GERMAN 
WAR  PRACTICES 


ISSUED_BY 

THE  COMMITTEE  ON  PUBLIC  INFORMATION 

THE  SECRETARY  OF  STATE 
THE  SECRETARY  OF  WAR 
THE  SECRETARY  OF  THE  NAVY 
GEORGE  CREEL 


KJtfion  o)  January,  1918 


GERMAN 
WAR  PRACTICES 


PART  I 

TREATMENT  OF  CIVILIANS 


EDITED  BY 

DANA  C.  MUNRO 
PRINCETON  UNIVERSITY 

GEORGE  C.  SELLERY        and          AUGUST  C.  KREY 
UNIVERSITY  OF  WISCONSIN  UNIVERSITY  OF  MINNESOTA 


ISSUED  BY 

THE  COMMITTEE  ON  PUBLIC  INFORMATION 

THE  SECRETARY  OF  STATE 
THE  SECRETARY  OF  WAR 
THE  SECRETARY  OF  THE  NAVY 
GEORGE  CREEL 

November  15.  1917 


EXECUTIVE  ORDER. 

I  hereby  create  a  Committee  on  Public  Information, 
to  be  composed  of  the  Secretary  of  State,  the  Secretary  of 
War,  the  Secretary  of  the  Navy,  and  a  civilian  who  shall 
be  charged  with  the  executive  direction  of  the  Committee. 
As  civilian  Chairman  of  the  Committee  I  appoint  Mr. 
George  Creel. 

The  Secretary  of  State,  the  Secretary  of  War,  and  the 
Secretary  of  the  Navy  are  authorized  each  to  detail  an 
officer  or  officers  to  the  work  of 'the  Committee. 

WOODROW  WILSON. 
April  14,  1917. 


INTRODUCTION. 


For  many  years  leaders  in  every  civilized  nation  have  been 
trying  to  make  warfare  less  brutal.  The  great 
Germany  landmarks  in  this  movement  are  the  Geneva 
regulations.  &  an(^  Hague  Conventions.  The  former  made 
rules  as  to  the  care  of  the  sick  and  wounded 
and  established  the  Red  Cross.  At  the  first  meeting  at  Geneva, 
in  1864,  it  was  agreed,  and  until  the  present  war  it  has  been 
taken  for  granted,  that  the  wounded,  and  the  doctors  and  nurses 
who  cared  for  them,  would  be  safe  from  all  attacks  by  the  enemy. 
The  Hague  Conventions,  drawn  up  in  1899  and  1907,  made 
additional  rules  to  soften  the  usages  of  war  and  especially  to 
protect  noncombatants  and  conquered  lands.  Germany  took 
a  prominent  part  in  these  meetings  and  with  the  other  nations 
solemnly  pledged  her  faith  to  keep  all  the  rules  except  one 
article  in  the  Hague  Regulations.  This  was  article  44,  which 
forbade  the  conqueror  to  force  any  of  the  conquered  to  give 
information.  All  the  other  rules  and  regulations  she  accepted 
in  the  most  binding  manner. 

But  Germany's  military  leaders  had  no  intention  of  keep- 
ing  these    solemn    promises.     They   had   been 

of?riStfSnPe°ssCy  trained  alonS  different  lines.  Their  leading 
generals  for  many  years  had  been  urging  a 
policy  of  frightfulness.  In  the  middle  of  the  nineteenth  cen- 
tury von  Clausewitz  was  looked  upon  as  the  greatest  military 
authority,  and  the  methods  which  he  advocated  were  used  by 
the  Prussian  army  in  its  successful  wars  of  1866-1871.  Conse- 
quently, because  these  wars  had  been  successful,  the  wisdom 
of  von  Clause witz's  methods  seemed  to  the  Prussian  army  to 
be  fully  proven. 

Now,  the  essence  of  von  Clausewitz's  teachings  was  that 
successful  war  involves  the  ruthless  application  of  force.  In 
the  opening  chapter  of  his  master  work,  Vom  Kriege  (On  War] , 
he  says: 

"Violence   arms  itself  with  the  inventions   of  art   and 
science.  Self-imposed    restrictions,    almost    im- 

5 


0  GERMAN    WAR   PRACTICES. 

perceptible  and  hardly  worth  mentioning,  termed  usages 
of  international  law,  accompany  it  without  essentially 
impairing  its  power.  *  *  *  Now,  philanthropic  souls 
might  easily  imagine  that  there  is  a  skillful  method  of 
disarming  or  subduing  an  enemy  without  causing  too  much 
bloodshed,  and  that  this  is  the  true  tendency  of  the  art 
of  war.  However  plausible  this  may  appear,  still  it  is  an 
error  which  must  be  destroyed;  for  in  such  dangerous  things 
as  war,  the  errors  which  proceed  from  a  spirit  of  'good- 
naturedness'  are  precisely  the  worst.  As  the  use  of  physical 
force  to  the  utmost  extent  by  no  means  excludes  the  co- 
operation of  the  intelligence,  it  follows  that  he  who  uses 
force  ruthlessly,  without  regard  to  bloodshed,  must  obtain 
a  superiority,  if  his  enemy  does  not  so  use  it." 

In  1877-78,  in  the  course  of  a  series  of  articles  upon  "Military 
necessity  and  humanity,"  Gen.  von  Hartmann  wrote,  in  the 
same  spirit  as  von  Clause witz: 

"The  enemy  State  must  not  be  spared  the  want  and 

p-tj4.fi  wretchedness   of   war;      these   are   particularly 

advocated^  Ger-  useful  in  shattering  its    energy    and    subduing 

man  generals.        its  will."     "Individual  persons  may  be  harshly 

dealt  with  when  an  example  is  made  of  them, 

intended  to  serve  as  a  warning.     *     *     *     Whenever  a 

national  war  breaks  out,  terrorism  becomes  a  necessary 

military  principle."     "It  is  a  gratuitous  illusion  to  suppose 

that  modern  war  does  not  demand  far  more  brutality,  far 

more  violence,  and  an  action  far  more  general  than  was 

formerly  the  case."     "When  international  war  has  burst 

upon  us,  terrorism  becomes  a  principle  made  necessary  by 

military  considerations." 

In  1881  von  Moltke,  who  had  been  commander  in  chief  of  the 
Prussian  army  in  the  Franco-Prussian  War,  declared: 

"Perpetual  peace  is  a  dream  and  not  even  a  beautiful 
dream.  War  is  an  element  in  the  order  of  the  world  estab- 
lished by  God.  By  it  the  most  noble  virtues  of  man  are 
developed,  courage  and  renunciation,  fidelity  to  duty  and 
the  spirit  of  sacrifice — the  soldier  gives  his  life.  Without 
war,  the  world  would  degenerate  and  lose  itself  in  material- 
ism." "The  soldier  who  endures  suffering,  privation,  and 
fatigue,  who  courts  dangers,  can  not  take  only  'in  proportion 
to  the  resources  of  the  country.'  He  must  take  all  that  is 
necessary  to  his  existence.  One  has  no  right  to  demand 
of  him  anything  superhuman."  "The  great  good  in  war 
is  that  it  should  be  ended  quickly.  In  view  of  thjs,  every 
means,  except  those  which  are  positively  condemnable, 


GERMAN    WAK    PKACTICES.  < 

must  be  permitted.  I  can  not,  in  any  way,  agree  with  the 
Declaration  of  St.  Petersburg  when  it  pretends  that  'the 
weakening  of  the  military  forces  of  the  enemy  constitutes 
the  only  legitimate  method  of  procedure  in  war.  No! 
One  must  attack  all  the  resources  of  the  enemy  government, 
his  finances,  his  railroads,  his  stock  of  provisions  and  even 
his  prestige.  *  *  *" 

Many  other  examples  might  be  cited  from  the  writings  of 

German  generals.     The  very  best  illustration 
Kaiser's 
"Hun"  speech  in    of  this  attitude,  however,  is  to  be  found  in  the 

Emperor's  various  speeches,  and  especially  in 
his  speech  to  his  soldiers  on  the  eve  of  their  departure  for  China 
in  1900.  On  July  27  the  Kaiser  went  to  Bremerhaven  to  bid 
farewell  to  the  German  troops.  As  they  were  drawn  up,  ready 
to  embark  for  China,  he  addressed  to  them  a  last  official  message 
from  the  Fatherland.  The  local  newspaper  reported  his  speech 
in  full.  In  it  appeared  this  advice  and  admonition  from  the 
Emperor,  the  commander  in  chief  of  the  army,  the  head  of  all 
Germany. 

"As  soon  as  you  come  to  blows  with  the  enemy  he  will 
be  beaten.  No  mercy  will  be  shown!  No  prisoners  will 
be  taken!  As  the  Huns,  under  King  Attila,  made  a  name 
for  themselves,  which  is  still  mighty  in  traditions  and  legends 
to-day,  may  the  name  of  German  be  so  fixed  in  China  by 
your  deeds  that  no  Chinese  shall  ever  again  dare  even  to 
look  at  a  German  askance.  *  *  *  Open,  the  way  for 
Kultur  once  for  all." 


Even  the  imperial  councillors  seem  to  have  been  shocked  at 
the  Emperor's  speech,  and  efforts  were  promptly  made  to  suppress 
the  circulation  of  his  exact  words.  The  efforts  were  only  parti}' 
successful.  A  few  weeks  later,  when  letters  from  the  German 
soldiers  in  China  were  being  published  in  local  German  papers, 
the  leading  socialist  newspaper,  Vorwdrts,  excerpted  from  them 
reports  of  atrocities  under  the  title  "Letters  of  the  Huns." 
Many  of  the  leaders  in  the  Reichstag  felt  very  keenly  the  brutality 
of  the  Emperor's  speech.  The  obnoxious  word  "Huns"  had 
excited  almost  universal  condemnation.  When  the  Reichstag 
met,  in  November,  the  speech  was  openly  discussed.  Herr 
Lieber,  of  the  Center  (the  Catholic  party),  after  quoting  the 


8  GERMAN    WAR   PRACTICES. 

"no  mercy"  portion  of  the  speech,  added,  "There  are,  alas,  in 

Germany   groups   enough   who   have   regarded 

Opposition    in    the  atrocities  told  in  the  letters  which  have  been 

Reichstag.  published  as  the  dutiful  response  of  soldiers  so 

addressed  and  encouraged."     The  leader  of  the 

Social   Democrats,    Herr  Bebel,   spoke  even   more   pointedly. 

Toward  the  end  of  a  two-hour  address  on  the  atrocities  committed 

by  the  German  soldiers  in  China  and  on  the  speech  of  the  Emperor 

he  said: 

"If  Germany  wishes  to  be  the  bearer  of  civilization  to 
the  world,  we  will  follow  without  contradiction.  But  the 
ways  and  means  in  which  this  world  policy  has  been  carried 
on  thus  far,  in  which  it  has  been  defined  by  the  Emperor 
*  *  *  are  not,  in  our  opinion,  the  way  to  preserve  the 
world  position  of  Germany,  to  gain  for  Germany  the 
respect  of  the  world." 

The  consequences  of  the  Emperor's  speech  Bebel  aptly  de- 
cribed: 

"By  it  a  signal  was  given,  garbed  in  the  highest  authority 
of  the  German  Empire,  which  must  have  most  weighty 
consequences,  not  only  for  the  troops  who  went  to  China 
but  also  for  those  who  stayed  at  home."  "An  expedition 
of  revenge  so  barbarous  as  this  has  never  occurred  in  the 
last  hundred  years  and  not  often  in  history;  at  least,  nothing- 
worse  than  this  has  happened  in  history,  either  done  by  the 
Huns,  by  the  Vandals,  by  Genghis  Khan,  by  Tamerlane, 
or  even  by  Tilly  when  he  sacked  Magdeburg." 

These  stories  of  atrocities  in  China  or  "Letters  of  the  Huns" 
continued  to  be  published  in  the  Vorwdrts  for 

Atrocities  in  several  years  and  appeared  intermittently  in 
China.  the  debates  of  the  Reichstag  as  late  as  1906.  At 

that  time  the  socialist,  Herr  Kunert,  reviewing 
the  procedure  in  a  trial  of  which  he  had  been  the  victim  in  the 
previous  summer,  stated  that  he  had  offered  to  prove  "that 
German  soldiers  in  China  had  engaged  in  wanton  and  brutal 
ravaging;  that  plunder,  pillage,  extortion,  robbery,  as  well  as 
rape  and  sexual  abuses  of  the  worst  kind,  had  occured  on  a  very 
large  scale  and  that  German  soldiers  had  participated  in  them." 
He  had  not  been  given  an  opportunity  to  prove  his  allegations, 
but  had  been  sentenced  to  prison  for  three  months  for  assailing 
the  honor  of  the  "whole  German  Army."  The  outrageousness 
of  this  sentence  was  made  clear  by  the  revelations,  made  in  the 


GERMAN   WAR   PRACTICES.  9 

Reichstag  shortly  afterwards,  of  similar  atrocities  committed  by 
German  officials  and  soldiers  in  Africa  in  the  campaign  against 
the  Hereros. 

The  teachings  of  Treitschke  and  Nietzsche  and  their  evil 
influence  upon  the  present  generation  in  Germany  are  well 
known.  The  minds  of  the  responsible  officials  were  filled  with 
ideas  wholly  different  from  those  to  which  Germany  had  agreed 
at  The  Hague.  The  cult  of  might,  and  of  war  as  its  expression, 
found  many  disciples  who  flooded  the  press  with  pamphlets  and 
panegyrics  on  war  and  its  place  in  the  natural  and  political 
development  of  a  nation.  Before  the  war  the  average  number 
of  volumes  concerning  war  published  each  year  in  Germany  was 
700,  and  the  vast  majority  of  those  written  by  the  German  Army 
officers  advocated  the  ruthless  policy  of  von  Clausewitz,  von 
Hartmann,  and  von  Moltke. 

These  ideas,  which  have  come  to  control  the  minds  of  the 
military  class,  are  best  shown  in  the  German  War  Book  (Kriegs- 
brauch  im  Landkriege),  published  in  1902.  The  tone  of  this 
authoritative  book  rrfay  be  judged  from  the  following  extracts: 

"But  since  the  tendency  of  thought  in  the  last  century 
was    dominated    essentially    by    humanitarian 

Teachings  of  considerations  which  not  infrequently  degener- 
the  German  War  ,  .  ,  jT*  ,. 

Book.  Sited  into   sentimentality   and   flabby   emotion 

(Sentimentalitdt  und  weichlicher  Gefuhlschwdr- 
merei},  there  have  not  been  wanting  attempts  to  influence 
the  development  of  the  usages  of  war  in  a  way  which  was  in 
fundamental  contradiction  with  the  nature  of  war  and  its 
object.  Attempts  of  this  kind  will  also  not  be  wanting  in 
the  future,  the  more  so  as  these  agitations  have  found  a 
kind  of  moral  recognition  in  some  provisions  of  the  Geneva 
Convention  and  the  Brussels  and  Hague  Conferences." 

"By  steeping  himself  in  military  history  an  officer  will 
be  able  to  guard  himself  against  excessive  humanitarian 
notions;  it  will  teach  him  that  certain  severities  are  indis- 
pensable to  war,  nay  nxore,  that  the  only  true  humanity 
very  often  lies  in  a  ruthless  application  of  them." 

For  the  guidance  of  the  officers  in  case  the  inhabitants  of 
conquered  territory  should  take  up  arms  against  the  German 
Army,  the  German  War  Book  quotes  with  approval  the  letter 
Xapoleon  sent  to  his  brother  .Joseph,  when  the  inhabitants  of 
Italy  were  attempting  to  revolt  against  him: 

"The  security    of   your  dominion  depends  on   how  you 


10  GERMAN    WAR    PRACTICES. 

behave  in  the  conquered  province.  Burn  down  a  dozen  places 
which  are  not  willing  to  submit  themselves.  Of  course, 
not  until  you  have  first  looted  them;  my  soldiers  must  not 
be  allowed  to  go  away  with  their  hands  empty.  Have  three 
to  six  persons  hanged  in  every  village  which  has  joined  the 
revolt;  pay  no  respect  to  the  cassock"  [that  is,  to  members 
of  the  clergy.] 

Some  of  the  rules  laid  down  in  the  German  War  Book  are  illus- 
trated and  their  spirit  made  more  definite  in 
proclamations*!!!  L'InterpreteMilitaire.  Zum  GebrauchimFeindes- 
French  transla-  land  (Military  Interpreter  for  Use  in  the  Enemy's 
Country) .  This  is  a  manual  edited  at  Berlin  in 
1906.  "It  contains,"  says  the  introduction,  "the  French  trans- 
lation of  the  greater  part  of  the  documents,  letters,  and  procla- 
mations, and  some  orders  of  which  it  may  be  necessary  to  make 
use  in  time  of  war."  Thus,  eight  years  before  this  war  began, 
the  German  military  authorities  were  not  only  preparing  their 
officers  to  wage  war  in  a  manner  wholly  contrary  to  the  Hague 
regulations,  but  also  were  looking  forward  to  the  use  of  these 
proclamations  in  French  or  Belgian  territory.  Among  its  forms, 
ready  for  use  by  inserting  names.,  date,  and  place,  are  the  follow- 
ing: 

"A  fme  of  600,000  marks  in  consequence  of  an 'attempt 
made  by  -     —  to  assassinate  a  German  soldier,  is  imposed 

on  the  town  of  O.     By  order  of . 

"Efforts  have  been  made,  without  result,  to  obtain  the 
withdrawal  of  the  fine. 

"The  term  fixed  for  payment  expires  to-morrow,  Satur- 
day, December  17,  at  noon . 

"Bank  notes,  cash,  or  silver  plate  will  be  accepted." 


"I  have  to  acknowledge  iieceipt  of  your  letter  dated  the 
7th  of  this  month,  in  which  you  bring  to  my  nptice  the  great 
difficulty  which  you  expect  to  meet  in  levying  the  contri- 
butions. *  I  can  but  regret  the  explanations  whiqh 
you  have  thought  proper  to  give  me  on  this  subject;  the 
order  in  question  which  emanates  from  my  Government  is 
so  clear  and  precise,  and  the  instructions  which  I  have 
received  in  the  matter  are  so  categorical  that  if  the  sum  due 
by  the  town  of  R —  —  is  not  paid  the  town  will  be  burned 
down  without  pity!" 


"On  account  of  the  destruction  of  the  bridge  of  F , 

I  order:     The  district  shall  pay  a  special  contribution  of 


GERMAN   WAR   PRACTICES.  11 

i          'f 

10,000,000  francs  by  way  of  amends.  This  is  brought  to 
the  notice  of  the  public  who  are  informed  that  the  method 
of  assessment  will  be  announced  later  and  that  the  payment 
of  the  said  sum  will  be  enforced  with  the  utmost  severity. 

The  village  of  F will   be   destroyed  immediately  by 

fire,  with  the  exception  of  certain  buildings  occupied  for  the 
use  of  the  troops." 

These  forms  have  been  of  great  use  to  the  German  commanders 
in  Belgium  and  northern  France.  The  closeness  with  which 
they  have  been  followed  in  these  conquered  lands,  during  the 
present  war,  may  be  seen  by  reading  the  following  proclamations 
and  the  other  proclamations  which  are  printed  eleswhere  in  this 
pamphlet. 

"The  City  of  Brussels,  exclusive  of  its  suburbs,  has  been 
punished  by  an  additional  fine  of  5,000,000  francs  on  account 
of  the  attack  made  upon  a  German  soldier  by  Ryckere,  one 
of  its  police  officials. 

"The  Governor  of  Brussels, 
"BARON  VON  LUETTWITZ. 

"November  1,  1914." 

Placard  posted  on  the  walls  of  Luneville  by  order  of  the  German 
authorities: 

"Notice  to  the  People. 

"Some  of  the  inhabitants  of  Luneville  made  an  attack 
from  ambuscade  on  the  German  columns  and  wagons  (trains) . 
The  same  day  [some  of  the]  inhabitants  shot  at  sanitary 
formations  marked  with  the  Red  Cross.  In  addition. 
German  wounded  and  the  military  hospital  containing  a 
German  ambulance  were  fired  upon. 

"Because  of  these  acts  of  hostility  a  fine  of  650,000  francs 
is  imposed  upon  the  commune  of  Luneville.  The  mayor 
is  ordered  to  pay  this  sum  in  gold  or  silver  up  to  50,000  franc.- . 
September  <>,  1914,  at  nine  o'clock  in  the  morning,  to  the 
representative  of  the  German  military  authority.  All  pro- 
tests will  be  considered  null  and  void.  Xo  delay  will  be 
granted. 

"If  the  commune  does  not  punctually  obey  the  order  to 
pay  the  sum  of  650,000  francs,  all  property  that  can  be 
levied  upon  will  be  seized. 

"In  case  of  non-payment,  visits  from  house  to  house  will  be 
made  and  all  the  inhabitants  will  be  searched.  If  anyone 
knowingly  has  concealed  money  or  attempted  to  hold  hack 
his  goods  from  the  seizure  by  the  military  authorities,  or 
if  anyone  attempts  to  leave  the  city,  he  will  be  shot. 

"The   Mayor   mid    the    hostages   taken   by   the   military 


12  GERMAN    WAR    PRACTICES. 

authorities  will  be  held  responsible  for  the  exact  execution 
of  the  above  orders. 

"The  Mayor  is  ordered  to  publish  immediately  this  notice 
to  the  Commune. 

"Henamenil,  Sept.  3,  1914. 

"The  General  in  Chief, 

"VON  FASBENDER.'' 

The  German  officers  were  provided  with  the  forms  to  be  used 
in  terrorizing  the  conquered  people.  The  common  soldiers  were 
provided  with  phrase  books  which  would  enable  them  to  impose 
their  wHl  upon  the  terrified  people.  Minister  Brand  Whitlock 
in  his  report  to  the  State  Department  on  September  12,  1917, 
writes: 

"The  German  soldiers  were  provided  with  phrase  books 
giving  alternate  translations  in  German  and  French  of  such 
sentences  as: 

"  'Hands  up.'     (It  is  the  very  first  sentence  in  the  book.) 

"  'Carry  out  all  the  furniture. 
'  'I  am  thirsty.     Bring  me  some  beer,  gin,  rum. 

"  'You  have  to  supply  a  barrel  of  wine  and  a  keg  of  beer. 

"  'If  you  lie  to  me,  I  will  have  you  shot  immediately. 

"  'Lead  me  to  the  wealthiest  inhabitants  of  this  village. 
I  have  orders  to  requisition  several  barrels  of  wine. 

"  'Show  us  the  way  to .     If  you  lead  us  astray,  you 

will  be  shot.' ' 

The  quotations  and  proclamations  printed  above  show  clearly 
the  attitude  of  mind  of  the  German  military 
frightfuSels"1  °f  authorities.  The  policy  of  frightfulness  had 
been  exalted  into  a  system  with  every  minute 
detail  worked  out  in  advance.  The  German  War  Book  with  its 
"cold-blooded  doctrines  of  the  nature  of  war  and  of  the  means 
which  may  be  employed  in  prosecuting  war,"  did  its  work  in 
training  the  German  military  officials.  Of  this  book  it  has  been 
well  said:  "It  is  the  first  time  in  the  history  of  mankind  that  a 
creed  so  revolting  has  been  deliberately  formulated  by  a  great 
civilized  State."  The  generals  gave  their  sanction  to  this  policy 
of  frightfulness.  Gen.  von  Bernhardi  was  quoted  in  an  inter- 
view in  the  Neue  Freie  Presse  of  Vienna,  as  follows: 

"One  cannot  make  war  in  a  sentimental  fashion.  The 
more  pitiless  the  conduct  of  the  war,  the  more  humane  it 
is  in  reality,  for  it  will  run  its  course  all  the  sooner.  The 


GEU.MAX    WAK    PRACTICES.  13 

war  which  of  all  wars  is  nud  must  be  most  humane  is  that 
which  leads  to  peace  with  as  little  delay  as  possible." 

This  interview  was  reproduced  in  the  Berliner  Tageblatt  of 
November  20,  1914. 

Mr.  F.  C.  Walcott,  of  the  Belgian  Relief  Commission,  tells, 
in  the  Geographical  Magazine  for  May,  1917,  of  meeting  Gen- 
von  Bernhardi: 

"As  I  walked  out,  General  von  Bernhardi  came  into  the 

room,   an  expert  artillery-man,   a  professor  in 

Interview  with    one    of   their    war    colleges.       I    met    him    the 

next  morning,  and  he  asked  me  if  I  had  read 

his  book,  Germany  and  the  Next  War. 

"I  said  I  had.  He  said,  'Do  you  know,  my  friends  nearly 
ran  me  out  of  the  country  for  that.'  They  said,  "You  have 
let  the  cat  out  of  the  bag."  I  said,  "No,  I  have  not,  because 
nobody  will  believe  it."  'What  did  you  think  of  it?' 

"I  said,  'General,  I  did  not  believe  a  word  of  it  when  I 
read  it,  but  I  now  feel  that  you  did  not  tell  the  whole  truth;' 
and  the  old  general  looked  actually  pleased." 

Speaking  on  August  29,  1914,  at  Minister,  of  the  extreme 
measures  which  the  Germans  had  felt  obliged  to  take  against 
the  civil  population  of  Belgium,  Gen.  von  Bissing  said: 

"The   innocent   must   suffer   with   the   guilty.     *     *     * 

In  the  repression  of  infamy,  human  lives  cannot 

Statement    by    j^   Spare(l;    ancl   if   isolated   houses,   flourishing 

villages,  and  even  entire  towns  are  annihilated, 

that  is  assuredly  regrettable,  but  it  must  not  excite  ill-timed 

sentimentality.  All  this  must  not  in  our  eyes  weigh  as  much  as 

the  life  of  a  single  one  of  our  brave  soldiers — the  rigorous 

accoaiplishment  of  duty  is  the  emanation  of  a  high  Kultur, 

and  in  that,  the  population  of  the  enemy  countries  can 

learn  a  lesson  from  our  army." 

Gen.  von  Bissing,  after  his  appointment  as  governor  general 
of  Belgium,  repeated  in  substance  the  above  opinion  to  a  Dutch 
journalist.  The  interview  is  published  in  the  Dusseldorfer 
Anzeiger  o'f  December  8,  1914. 

Irvin  S.  Cobb  states  his  conclusions  on  the  responsibility  of 
the  higher  German  command  for  the  atrocities: 

"But  I  was  an  eyewitness  to  crimes  which,  measured  by 
the  standards  of  humanity  and  civilization,  impressed  me  as 
worse  than  any  individual  excess,  any  individual  outrage, 
could  ever  have  been  or  can  ever  be;  because  these  crimes 
indubitably  wore  instigated  on  a  wholesale  basis  by  order 


14  GERMAN    WAR    PRACTICES. 

of  officers  of  rank,  and  must  have  been  carried  out  under 
their  personal  supervision,  direction,  and  approval.  Briefly, 
what  I  saw  was  this:  I  saw  wide  areas  of  Belgium  and  France 
in  which  not  a  penny's  worth  of  wanton  destruction  had 
been  permitted  to  occur,  in  which  the  ripe  pears  hung  un- 
touched upon  the  garden  walls;  and  I  saw  other  wide  areas 
where  scarcely  one  stone  had  been  left  to  stand  upon  an- 
other; where  the  fields  were  ravaged;  where  the  male  villagers 
had  been  shot  in  squads;  where  the  miserable  survivors  had 
been  left  to  den  in  holes,  like  wild  beasts. 

"Taking  the  physical  evidence  offered  before  our  own 
eyes,  and  buttressing  it  with  the  statements  made  to  us,  not 
only  by  natives  but  "by  German  soldiers  and  German  officers, 
we  could  reach  but  one  conclusion,  which  was  that  here,  in 
such  and  such  a  place,  those  in  command  had  said  to  the 
troops:  'Spare  this  town  and  these  people.'  And  there  they 
had  said:  'Waste  this  town  and  shoot  these  people.'  And 
here  the  troops  had  discriminately  spared,  and  there  they 
had  indiscriminately  wasted,  in  exact  accordance  with  the 
word  of  their  superiors."  Irvin  S.  Cobb,  Speaking  of 
Prussians,  New  York,  1917,  pp.  32-34. 

These  ideas,  then,  were  systematically  impressed  upon  the 
military  and  official  classes.  It  was  necessary,  however,  to 
work  upon  the  minds  of  the  German  people,  so  that  they  might 
lend  themselves  to  the  inhuman  policies  advocated  by  the 
military  leaders.  To  do  this  was  difficult,  for,  as  has  been 
shown  above,  many  of  the  civilian  leaders  of  public  opinion, 
time  and  again,  expressed  their  horror  of  the  new  spirit  which 
was  animating  the  military  authorities.  The  Reichstag  de- 
bates give  ample  evidence  of  this,  and  the  task  of  the  military 
leaders  would  have  been  still  more  difficult  if  the  Reichstag  had 
had  any  real  power.  (See  War  Information  Series,  No.  3,  The 
Government  of  Germany;  see  also  Gerard's  My  Four  Years  in 
Germany,  Chap.  IL.) 

The  military  authorities  and  those  in  sympathy  with  them 

have  done  all  in  their  power  to  stimulate  a  hatred  of  other 

peoples  in  the  minds  of  the  Germans.     A  campaign  of  education 

before  the  war  was  carried  on  with  the  object  of  impressing  upon 

the  minds  of  the  Germans  the  treacherous  nature 

Hatred  against    of  the  peoples  against  whom  the  military  leaders 

Belgians.  were  anxious  to  wage  war.     Not  only  were  the 

Germans  gradually  led  to  believe  that  it  was 

necessary  to  fight  a  defensive  war  against  unscrupulous  foes,  but 


UKRMAiV    \VAii    PRACTICES.  15 

also  that  these  foes  would  violate  every  precept  of  humanity , 
and  consequently  must  be  crushed  without  mercy  as  a  measure 
of  self-defense.  The  fruits  of  this  campaign  of  suspicion  and 
hatred  became  evident  when  almost  at  the  outbreak  of  the  war 
many  Germans  became  possessed  with  the  belief  that  the  whole 
population  of  Belgium,  the  first  country  to  be  invaded,  had 
violated  every  rule  of  honorable  warfare,  that  the  francs-tireurs 
(guerillas)  were  everywhere  present  doing  their  deadly  work  in 
secrecy  or  under  the  cover  of  darkness;  that  women  and  even 
children  were  mutilating  and  killing  the  wounded  or  helpless 
prisoners. 

The  effect  of  the  fables  upon  the  popular  mind  may  be  seen  in 
the  following  extracts  from  German  letters: 

Extract  from  a  letter  written  by  a  German  soldier  to  his 
brother.  (This  letter,  now  in  the  possession  of  the  United 
States  Government,  was  obtained  for  this  pamphlet  from  Mr. 
J.C.  Grew,  formerly  secretary  to  the  United  States  Embassy  at 
Berlin.) 

"NOVEMBER  4,  1914. 

"The  battles  are  everywhere  extremely  tenacious  and 
bloody.  The  Englishmen  we  hate  most,  and  we  want  to 
get  even  with  them  for  once.  While  one  now  and  then 
sees  French  prisoners,  one  hardly  ever  beholds  French  black 
troops  or  Englishmen.  These  good  people  are  not  over- 
looked by  our  infantrymen;  that  sort  of  people  is  mowed 
down  without  mercy.  The  losses  of  the  Englishmen  must 
be  enormous.  There  is  a  desire  to  wipe  them  outw  root  and 
all." 

Extract  from  another  letter  to  a  brother: 

"SCHLESWIG,  25,  8,  14  [Aug.  25,  1914]. 
"DEAR  BROTHER,  *  *  You  will  shortly  go  to 
Brussels  with  your  regiment,  as  you  know.  Take  care  to 
protect  yourself  against  these  Civilians,  especially  in  the 
villages.  Do  not  let  anyone  of  them  come  near  you.  Fire 
without  pity  on  everyone  of  them  who  comes  too  near.  They 
are  very  clever,  cunning  fellows,  these  Belgians;  even  the 
women  and  children  are  armed  and  fire  their  guns.  Never 
go  inside  a  house,  especially  alone.  If  you  take  anything 
to  drink  make  the  inhabitants  drink  first,  and  keep  at  a 
distance  from  them.  The  newspapers  relate  numerous 
cases  in  which  'they  have  fired  on  our  soldiers  whilst  they  were 
drinking.  You  soldiers  must  spread  around  so  much  fear 
of  vourselves  that  no  civilian  will  venture  to  come  near  vou. 


16  GERMAN    WAR    PRACTICES. 

Remain  always  in  the  company  of  others.  /  hope  that  you 
have  read  the  newspapers  and  that  you  know  how  to  behave. 
Above  all  have  no  compassion  for  these  cut-throats.  Make  for 
them  without  pity  with  the  butt-end  of  your  rifle  and  the  bayo- 
net. *  *  * 

"Your  brother, 

"WlLLI." 

The  Emperor  gave  his  sanction  to  the  reports  of  the  brutal 
acts  of  the  Belgians  in  a  telegram  to  President  Wilson . 

"BERLIN,  VIA  COPENHAGEN,  Sept.  7,  1914. 

"SECRETARY  OF  STATE, 

" Washington. 

"Number  53.     September  7.     I  am  requested  to  forward 
the  following  telegram  from  the  Emperor  to  the  President : 

"  'I  feel  it  my  duty,  Mr.  President,  to  inform  you  as  the 
most  prominent  representative  of  principles  of 
Emperor's  tele-  humanity,  that  after  taking  the  French  fortress 
of  Longwy,  my  troops  discovered  there  thousands 
of  dumdum  cartridges  made  by  special  government  machin- 
ery. The  same  kind  of  ammunition  was  found  on  killed 
and  wounded  troops  and  prisoners,  also  on  the  British  troops. 
You  know  what  terrible  wounds  and  suffering  these  bullets 
inflict  and  that  their  use  is  strictly  forbidden  by  the  estab- 
lished rules  of  international  law.  I  therefore  address  a 
solemn  protest  to  you  against  this  kind  of  warfare,  which, 
owing  to  the  methods  of  our  adversaries  has  become  one 
of  the  most  barbarous  known  in  history.  Not  only  have 
they  employed  these  atrocious  weapons,  but  the  Belgian 
Government  has  openly  encouraged  and  since  long  carefully 
prepared  the  participation  of  the  Belgian  civil  population 
in  the  fighting.  The  atrocities  committed  even  by  women 
and  priests  in  this  guerilla  warfare,  also  on  wounded  sol- 
diers, medical  staff  and  nurses,  doctors  killed,  hospitals 
attacked  by  rifle  fire,  were  such  that  my  generals  finally  were 
compelled  to  take  the  most  drastic  measures  in  order  to 
punish  the  guilty  and  to  frighten  the  blood-thirsty  popula- 
tion from  continuing  their  work  of  vile  murder  and  -horror. 
Some  villages  and  even  the  old  town  of  Loewen  [Louvain], 
excepting  the  fine  hotel  de  ville,  had  to  be  destroyed  in  self- 
defense  and  for  the  protection  of  my  troops.  My  heart 
bleeds  when  I  see  that  such  measures  have  become  unavoid- 
able and  when  I  think  of  the  numerous  innocent  people  who 
lose  their  home  and  property  as  a  consequence  of  the  bar- 
barous behavior  of  those  criminals.  Signed.  William, 
Emperor  and  King.' 

"GERARD.     Berlin." 


GERMAN    WAR    PRACTICES.  17 

Lorenz  Miiller  in  the  German  Catholic  review,  Der  Pels, 
February,  1915,  made  the  following  statement  in  regard  to  the 
Emperor's  telegram:  , 

"Officially  no  instance  has  been  proven  of  persons  having 

fired  with  the  help  of  priests  from  the  towers  of 

ationbya    churches.     All  that  has  been  made  known  up  to 

the  present,  and  that  has  been  made  the  object 

of    inquiry,    concerning    alleged    atrocities    attributed    to 

Catholic  priests  during  this  war,  has  been  shown  to  be  false 

and   altogether   imaginary,    without   any   exception.     Our 

Emperor  telegraphed  to  the  President  of  the  United  States 

of  America  that  even  women  and  priests  had  committed 

atrocities  during  this  guerilla  warfare  on  wounded  soldiers", 

doctors  and  nurses  attached  to  the  field  ambulances.     How 

this  telegram  can  be  reconciled  with  the  fact  stated  above 

we  shall  not  be  able  to  learn  until  after  the  war." 

The  Vorwarts,  of  Berlin,  October  22,  1914,  said: 

"We  have  already  been  able  to  establish  the  falseness 

of   a  great   number  of  assertions   which   have 

V  Re»"iation   by    been  made  with  great  precision  and  published 

everywhere    in    the    press,    concerning    alleged 

cruelties  committed,   by  the  populations  of  the  countries 

with  which  Germany  is  at  war,  upon  German  soldiers  and 

civilians.     We  are  now  in  a  position  to  silence  two  others  of 

these  fantastic  stories. 

"The  War  Correspondent  of  the  Berliner  Tageblatt  spoke 
a  few  weeks  ago  of  cigars  and  cigarettes  filled  with  powder 
alleged  to  have  been  given  out  or  sold  to  our  soldiers  with 
diabolical  intent.  He  even  pretended  that  he  had  seen 
with  his  own  eyes  hundreds  of  this  kind  of  cigarettes.  We 
learn  from  an  authentic  source  that  this  story  of  cigars  and 
cigarettes  is  nothing  but  a  brazen  invention.  Stories  of 
soldiers  whose  eyes  are  alleged  to  have  been  torn  out  by 
francs- tireurs  are  circulated  throughout  Germany.  Not  a 
single  case  of  this  kind  has  been  officially  established.  In 
every  instance  where  it  has  been  possible  to  test  the  story 
its  inaccuracy  has  been  demonstrated. 

"It  matters  little  that  reports  of  this  nature  bear  an 
appearance  of  positive  certitude,  or  are  even  vouched  for  by 
eye-witnesses.  The  desire  for  notoriety,  the  absence  of 
criticism,  and  personal  error  play  an  unfortunate  part  in 
the  days  in  which  we  are  living.  Every  nose  shot  off  or 
simply  bound  up,  every  eye  removed,  is  immediately  trans- 
formed into  a  nose  or  eye  torn  away  by  the  fraiics-tireurs. 
Already  the  Volkszeituny  of  Cologne  has  been  able,  contrary 
to  the  very  categorical  assertions  from  Aix-la-Chapelle, 


18  GERMAN    WAR    PRACTICES. 

to  prove  that  there  was  no  soldier  with  his  eyes  torn  out  in 
the  field  ambulance  of  this  town.  It  was  said,  also,  that 
people  wounded  in  this  way  were  under  treatment  in  the 
neighborhood  of  Berlin,  but  whenever  enquiries  have  been 
made  in  regard  to  these  reports,  their  absolute  falsity  has 
been  demonstrated.  At  length  these  reports  were  concen- 
trated at  Gross  Lichterfelde.  A  newspaper  published  at 
noon  and  widely  circulated  in  Berlin  printed  a  few  days  ago 
in  large  type  the  news  that  at  the  Lazaretto  of  Lichterfelde 
alone  there  were  'ten  German  soldiers,  only  slightly  wounded, 
whose  eyes  had  been  wickedly  torn  out.'  But  to  a  request 
for  information  by  comrade  Liebknecht  the  following  writ- 
ten reply  was  sent  by  the  chief  medical  officer  of  the  above- 
mentioned  field  hospital,  dated  the  18th  of  the  month: 

"  'Sm, 

'Happily  there  is  no  truth  whatever  in  these  stories. 
'Yours  obediently, 

TROFESSOR  RAUTENBERG.'  ' 

Thus  the  teachings  of  the  German  War  Book  and  of  the  German 
apostles  of  frightfulness,  suspicion,  and  hatred, 
dier'sTtnrote'st  ^a(^  now  DeSun  to  bear  their  natural  fruit, 
against  atroci-  But  the  voice  of  protest  was  not  entirely  silent. 
A  considerable  number  of  letters  by  German 
soldiers  who  were  shocked  by  the  German  atrocities  were  sent 
to  Ambassador  Gerard,  because  he  was  the  representative  of  the 
United  States,  the  leading  neutral  nation.  The  three  letters 
which  fellow,  in  translation,  were  received  by  the  American 
ambassador  from  German  soldiers.  They  were  obtained  for 
this  pamphlet  from  Secretary  Grew;  they  illustrate  both  the 
system  and  the  horror  of  it,  which  the  writers  felt. 

Here  is  the  protest  of  a  German  soldier,  an  eye- witness  of  the 
slaughter  of  Russian  soldiers  in  the  Masurian  lakes  and  swamps: 

"It  was  frightful,  heart-rending,  as  these  masses  of 
human  beings  were  driven  to  destruction.  Above  the 
terrible  thunder  of  the  cannon  could  be  heard  the  heart- 
rending cries  of  the  Russians:  'O  Prussians!  O  PrussiansF- 
but  there  was  no  mercy.  Our  Captain  had  ordered:  'The 
whole  lot  must  die;  so  rapid  fire.'  As  I  have  heard,  five 
men  and  one  officer  on  our  side  went  mad  from  those  heart- 
rending cries.  But  most  of  my  comrades  and  the  officers 
joked  as  the  unarmed  and  helpless  Russians  shrieked  for 
mercy  while  they  were  being  suffocated  in  the  swamps  and 
shot  down.  The  order  was:  'Close  up  and  at  it  harder!' 
For  days  afterwards  those  heart-rending  yells  followed  me 


GERMAN    WAR    PRACTICES.  19 

and  I  dare  not  think  of  them  or  I  shall  go  mad.  There  is 
no  God,  there  is  no  morality  and  no  ethics  any  more.  There 
are  no  human  beings  any  more,  but  only  beasts.  Down 
with  militarism. 

"This  was  the  experience  of  a  Prussian  soldier.  At 
present  wounded;  Berlin,  October  22,  1914. 

"If  you  are  a  truth-loving  man,  please  receive  these  lines 
from  a  common  Prussian  soldier." 

Here  is  the  testimony  of  another  German  soldier  on  the  Eastern 
front. 

"RUSSIAN  POLAND,  December  18,  '14- 
"In  the  name  of  Christianity  I  send  you  these  words. 
"My  conscience  forces  me  as  a  Christian  German  soldier 
to  inform  you  of  these  lines. 

"Wounded  Russians  are  killed  with  the  bayonet  according 
to  orders. 

"And  Russians  who  have  surrendered  are  often  shot  down 
in  masses  according  to  orders,  in  spite  of  their  heart-rend- 
ing prayers. 

"In  hope  that  you,  as  the  representative  of  a  Christian 
State  will  protest  against  this,  I  sign  myself, 

"A  GERMAN  SOLDIER  AND  CHRISTIAN. 

"I  would  give  my  name  and  regiment,  but  these  words 

could  get  me  court-martialed  for  divulging  military  secrets." 


The  third  letter,  from  the  Western  front,  shows  the  same  horror 
of  the  system  of  which  the  writer  was  a  witness. 

"To  the 

"AMERICAN  GOVERNMENT, 

"Washington,  U.  S.  A. 

"Englishmen  who  have  surrendered  are  shot  down  in  Small 
groups.  With  the  French  one  is  more  considerate.  I  ask 
whether  men  let  themselves  be  taken  prisoner  in  order  to  be 
disarmed  and  shot  down  afterwards?  Is  that  chivalry  in 
battle?  It  is  no  longer  a  secret  among  the  people;  one  hears 
everywhere  that  few  prisoners  are  taken;  they  are  shot  down 
in  small  groups.  They  say  naively:  'We  don't  want  any 
unnecessary  mouths  to  feed.  Where  there  is  no  one  to  enter 
complaint,  there  is  no  judge.'  Is  there  then  no  power  in 
•  the  world  which  can  put  an  end  to  these  murders  and  roM-no 
the  victims?  Where  is  Christianity?  Where  is  right? 
Might  is  right. 

"A  SOLDIER  AND  MAN  WHO  Is  No  BARBARIAN." 


20  GERMAN    WAR   PRACTICES. 

Many  of  the  Germans,  as  has  been  already  indicated,  do  not 
Socialists  op-  believe  the  reports  of  the  atrocities  committed 
pose  system.  by  the  Belgian  civilians  and  refuse  to  accept  the 
system  of  frightfulness.  The  Vorwdrts,  the  leading  socialistic 
paper,  which  has  a  very  wide  circle  of  readers,  has  opposed  the 
policy  of  frightfulness.  All  honor  to  its  editors  who  have  so 
courageously  opposed  powerful  military  authority!  Its  editorial, 
entitled  "Our  Foes,"  published  August  23,  1914,  reads  as  follows: 

"We  wish  to  show  ourselves  humane  and  friendly  towards 
those  whom  the  fortune  of  war  has  played  into  our  hands  as 
prisoners.  But  we  wish  also  to  be  humane  towards  our  foes 
on  the  field.  We  must  fight  them.  *  *  *  But  fighting 
does  not  mjean  murdering.  It  does  not  mean  being  bar- 
barous. *  *  * 

"What  should  one  say  when  even  such  an  organ  as  the 
Deutsches  Offizier-Blatt  expresses  its  sympathy  with  a  demand 
that  'the  beasts'  who  are  taken  as  f  rancs-tireurs  should  not  be 
killed  but  only  wounded  so  that  they  may  then  be  left  to  a 
fate  'which  makes  any  help  impossible?'  Or  what  should  we 
say  when  the  Deutsches  Offizier-Blatt  states  that  'a  punitive 
destruction  even  of  whole  regions'  cannot  'afford  full  rec- 
ompense for  the  bones  of  a  single  murdered  Pomeranian 
grenadier?  Those  are  the  desires  of  blood-thirsty  fanatics 
and  we  are  thoroughly  ashamed  of  ourselves  because  it  is 
possible  that  there  are  people  among  us  who  urge  such 
things.  Such  disclosures  in  themselves,  even  if  they  are 
not  followed  out,  are  likely  to  place  our  fighting  quite  in 
the  wrong  before  all  the  world.  *  *  Let  us  show 
knightliness  even  though  we  are  of  the  proletariat.  Let  UP 
take  such  pains  that  when  the  fight  has  finally  been  fought 
it  will  also  not  be  so  difficult  again  to  work  in  common  as 
brothers  with  our  class  associates  on  the  other  side  of  the 
border." 

On  the  following  day,  August  24,  1914,  the  Vtorwarts  returned 
to  the  attack  in  an  editorial  "Against  Barbarism." 

*     *     *     "One  might,  in  the  first  place,  possibly  believe 

that   such  a  demand  for  a  blood}7  vengeance 

SomeGermans    [agamst    alleged    Belgian    outrages]    emanates 

demand    "orgies    ;.  e          •      i      i-  •>  i       •      i     .  •, 

of  barbarism.''       from  a  single  disease-racked  brain;  but  it  appears 

that  whole  groups  among  certain  classes  who 
represent  German  Kultur  want  to  indulge  in  orgies  of 
barbarism  and  to  devise  a  whole  system  for  the  purpose 
of  organizing  'a  war  of  revenge.' 

"What  of  law  and  custom!  Such  thoughts  do  not  stir 
a  'great  nation'.  Thus  in  a  leading  article  of  the  Berliner 


GERMAN    WAK   1'KACTICES.  AL 

Neueste  Nachrichten,  the  demand  is  made  that  all  the 
authorities  in  Brussels — one,  the  second  Burgomaster,  is- 
generously  excepted — should  be  immediately  seized  and 
subjected  to  trial  in  order  to  expiate  the  wrongs  which, 
according  to  fragmentary  and  highly  uncertain  reports, 
were  said  to  have  been  committed  by  the  people.  They 
demand  that  the  captured  city  should  immediately  pay  a 
fine  of  500,000,000  marks;  that  all  stores  of  the  conquered 
territory  be  requisitioned  without  paying  the  inhabitants 
a  single  penny  for  them." 

Three  years  later,  August  26,  1917,  the  Vorwdrts  quoted  the 
following  passage  from  the  Deutsche  Tagezeitung: 

"We  have  a  ring  of  politicians  who  hold  that  might  makes 

right    (Machtpolitikcr)    who   despise   the   forces 

Still  hold  same    of  the  inner  life  and  believe  that  they    must 

opinions.  eliminate  all  ethical  points  of  view      *      *      * 

from   foreign   and    social    politics.     For   them, 

Germany  of  the  present  and  of  the  future  is  the  country 

of  the  Krupps  and  Borsigs,  of  the  Zeppelins  and  the  U-boats. 

Any  idea  of  a  connection  between  politics  and  morals  is 

rejected  and  any  reference  to  the  right  of  a  moral  method 

of  consideration  is  ridiculed  as  delusion  and  sentimentality." 

Naturally  the  repforts  of  the  atrocities  committed  by  the 

Germans  and  the  Emperor's  declaration  that 

Belgian  warn-    the   war   would   henceforth   assume   a   terrible 

ing  of  danger.         character   (grausamen  Charakter)  caused  grave 

anxiety  among  the  Belgians.     In  order  to  avoid 

the  danger  of  reprisals,  the  Belgian  Government,  at  the  beginning 

of  the  invasion,  had  every  Belgian  newspaper  publish  each  day 

the  following  notice  on  its  first  page,  in  large  print: 

"TO  CIVILIANS. 

"The  Minister  of  the  Interior  advises  civilians  in  case  the 
enemy  should  show  himself  in  their  district: 

"Not  to  fight; 

"To  utter  no  insulting  or  threatening  words; 

"To  remain  within  their  houses  and  close  the  windows; 
so  that  it  will  be  impossible  to  allege  that  there  was  any 
provocation; 

"To  evacuate  any  houses  or  isolated  hamlet  which  the 
soldiers  may  occupy  in  order  to  defend  themselves,  so 
that  it  cannot  be  alleged  that  civilians  have  fired ; 

"An  act  of  violence  committed  by  a  single  civilian  would 
be  a  crime  for  which  the  law  provides  arrest  and  punishment . 
It  is  all  the  more  reprehensible  in  that  it  might  serve  as  a 
pretext  for  measures  of  oppression,  resulting  in  bloodshed 


22  GKK.MAX    WAR    PRACTICES. 

or  pillage,  or  the  massasre  of  the  innocent  population  with 
the  women  and  children." 

In  the  hope  of  arousing  the  sympathy  and  securing  the  aid  of 
the  neutral  nations,  the  Belgian  Government  appointed  a  com- 
mittee to  ascertain  the  facts  about  the  German  practices.  The 
evidence  collected  by  the  Belgian  commissioners  is  detailed  and 
explicit,  and  their  reports  give  names,  places,  and  dates.  It  is 
not  possible,  however,  to  include  in  this  pamphlet  more  than  the 
following  summary  of  the  charges  they  make  against  the  Germans : 

"1.  That  thousands  of  unoffending  civilians,  including 
women  and  children,  were  murdered  by  the  Germans. 

"2.  That  women  had  been  outraged. 

"3.  That  the  custom  of  the  German  soldiers  immediately 
on  entering  a  town  was  to  break  into  wineshops  and  the 
cellars  of  private  houses  and  madden  themselves  with  drink . 

"4.  That  German  officers  and  soldiers  looted  on  a  gigantic 
and  systematic  scale,  and,  with  the  connivance  of  the 
German  authorities,  sent  back  a  large  part  of  the  booty  to 
Germany. 

"5.  That  the  pillage  had  been  accompanied  by  wanton 
destruction  and  by  bestial  and  sacrilegious  practices. 

"6.  That  cities,  towns,  villages,  and  isolated  buildings 
were  destroyed. 

"7.  That  in  the  course  of  such  destruction  human  beings 
were  burnt  alive. 

"8.  That  there  was  a  uniform  practice  of  taking  hostages 
and  thereby  rendering  great  numbers  of  admittedly  inno- 
cent people  responsible  for  the  alleged  wrongdoings  of  others. 

"9.  That  large  numbers  of  civilian  men  and  women  had 
been  virtually  enslaved  by  the  Germans,  being  forced 
against  their  will  to  work  for  the  enemies  of  their  country, 
or  had  been  carried  off  like  cattle  into  Germany,  where  all 
trace  of  them  had  been  lost. 

"10.  That  cities,  towns,  and  villages  had  been  fined  and 
their  inhabitants  maltreated  because  of  the  success  gained 
by  the  Belgian  over  the  German  soldiers. 

"11.  That  public  monuments  and  works  of  art  nad  been 
wantonly  destroyed  by  the  invaders. 

"12.  And  that  generally  the  Regulations  of  the  Hague 
Conference  and  the  customs  of  civilized  warfare  had  been 
ignored  by  the  Germans,  and  that  amongst  other  breaches 
of  such  regulations  and  customs,  the  Germans  had  adopted 
a  new  and  inhuman  practice  of  driving  Belgian  men,  women, 
and  children  in  front  of  them  as  a  screen  between  them  and 
the  allied  soldiers." 


GERMAN   WAR  PRACTICES.  23 

The  German  authorities  undertook  to  defend  themselves 
against  the  terrible  indictment  in  the  report  published  by  the 
Belgian  Government  and  appointed  a  German  commission, 
which  collected  a  huge  mass  of  materials  designed  to  show  that 
their  acts  of  cruelty  were  merely  acts  of  reprisal  necessitated  by 
the  deeds  of  the  Belgians.  This  mass  of  testimony  was  pub- 
lished in  a  German  White  Book  with  the  title  Die  vdlkerrechtswidrige 
Fuhrung  des  Belgischen  Volkskriegs. 

The  German  commission  declared  in  its  findings  that  the 
German  soldiers  had  acted  with  humanity,  restraint,  and 
Christian  forbearance.  But  the  sworn  statements  of  German 
soldiers,  which  the  commission  published,  show  the  reverse  to 
be  true. 

It  has  been  well  said  that  the  publication  of  this  German 
White  Book  was  "an  amazing  official  blunder." 

German  White  The  neutral  world,  whose  good  opinion  Germany 
atrocities.  sought ,  was  not  convinced  by  it  that  the  Belgians 

had  committed  the  atrocities  with  which  the 
Germans  charged  them.  On  the  other  hand,  this  White  Book, 
published  by  the  German  Government,  will  be  accepted  by 
everyone  as  conclusive  evidence  of  the  massacres  and  other 
brutal  deeds  which  were  carried  out  as  "reprisals"  by  the  orders 
of  the  German  military  authorities  in  Belgium.  The  names  of 
the  German  officers  who  gave  the  terrible  orders  are  published 
officially,  and  "frequently  the  very  men  themselves  come  forward 
and  depose  coldly  and  callously  to  acts  which  have  degraded  the 
German  Army  and  left  a  stain  upon  its  banners  that  [future] 
generations  of  chivalry  will  not  efface." 

Indeed,  in  the  light  of  the  admissions  of  the  German  White 
Book,  it  is  not  too  much  to  say  that  the  time  has  already  come 
which  was  spoken  of  by  President  Wilson  in  his  dispatch  to 
President  Poincare,  September  19,  1914,  when  he  said  (speaking 
for  "a  nation  which  abhors  inhuman  practices  in  the  conduct  of 
a  war"): 

"The  time  will  come  when  this  great  conflict  is  over  and 
when  the  truth  can  be  impartially  determined.  When  that 
time  arrives  those  responsible  for  violations  of  the  rules  of 
civilized  warfare,  if  such  violations  have  occurred,  and  for 
false  charges  against  their  adversaries,  must  of  course  bear 
the  burden  of  the  judgment  of  the  world." 


CHARACTER  OF  THE  MATERIAL  USED  IN   THIS 
PAMPHLET. 

In  this  pamphlet  throughout,  as  in  the  preceding  pages,  the 
evidence  is   drawn   mainly  from   German   and 

German    American  sources.     The  German  sources  include 
sources. 

official  proclamations  and  other  official  utter- 
ances, letters  and  diaries  of  German  soldiers,  and  quotations 
from  German  newspapers.  The  diaries  which  are  so  frequently 
quoted  form  a  unique  source.  The  Rules  for  Field  Service  of  the 
German  Army  advises  each  soldier  to  keep  such  a  diary  while  on 
active  service.  Very  many  German  soldiers  who  have  been 
taken  prisoner  had  kept  such  diaries,  and  these  have  been  con- 
fiscated by  the  captors.  Many  have  been  published,  frequently 
with  facsimile  reproductions  to  guarantee  their  authenticity. 
The  best  known  collection  was  made  by  Bedier,  whom  Prof. 
Hollmann,  of  the  University  of  Berlin,  properly  described  as 
''the  distinguished  Prof.  Joseph  Bedier  of  the  College  de  France." 
Of  Bedier's  publication  Prof.  Nyrop,  of  the  University  of  Copen- 
hagen, says: 

"He  has  translated  the  diaries  and  commented  upon 
them  just  as  one  does  with  all  old  historical  documents, 
and,  in  order  that  everyone-  may  be  in  a  position  to  check 
up  his  work,  he  has  also  accompanied  the  account  with 
facsimile  copies  of  the  documents  he  used.  Here,  accord- 
ingly, at  the  outset  every  proof  of  the  evidence  which  he 
has  employed  is  provided.  No  falsification  is  possible. 
The  accounts  are  those  of  eyewitnesses,  and  these  eye- 
witnesses are  Germans.  They  tell  what  they  themselves 
or  their  comrades  have  done,  and  Bedier  accornpanies  their 
remarks  with  running  comments  which  show  that  not  only 
have  common  law  and  the  Hague  Conventions  been  violated, 
but  sins  have  also  been  committed  against  the  most  ele- 
mentary laws  of  humanity.  Both  the  material  and  the 
presentation  are  unassailable.  The  details  which  are  pro- 
vided by  the  German  soldiers  in  regard  to  their  own  violent 
acts  are  horror-striking." 

Prof.  Hollmann  attempted  to  prove  that  Bedier  had  made  mis- 
takes in  translating  and  interpreting,  but  he  did  not  deny  the 
genuineness  of  the  diaries.     "These  notebooks/'  he  says,  "may 
24 


GERMAN    WAR    PRACTICES.  25 

well  be  authentic  and  I  accept  this  without  further  comment  for 

all  those  which  are  provided  with  the  name  of  their  authors  and 

whose  authenticity  can  in  any  case  be  established  after  the  war." 

The  American  evidence  is  drawn  mainly  from  material  in  the 

archives  of  the  State  Department.    In  addition, 

American    statements  from  our  ambassadors  and  ministers 
sources 

and  other  well-known  officials  and  authors  are 

given.  Messrs.  Hoover,  Kellogg,  and  Walcott  have  written  state- 
ments especially  for  this  pamphlet .  All  of  this  material  is  essen- 
tially the  testimony  of  neutrals,  for  it  is  based  wholly  on  observa- 
tions made  before  the  United  States  entered  the  war.  Occasion- 
ally official  documents  and  well  authenticated  facts  from  foreign 
sources  are  used. 

The  purpose  of  this  pamphlet  is  to  show  that  the  system  of 
frightfulness,  which  is  itself  the  greatest  atrocity, 

Frightfulness    jg  ^ne  ^finite  policy  of  the  German  Government, 
as  a  system. 

against   which   more   humane   German   soldiers 

themselves  revolted  at  times.  For  this  reason  it  has  not  seemed 
necessary  to  set  forth  the  individual  acts  of  cruelty;  such  acts  are 
cited  only  when  necessary  to  illustrate  the  system.  Anyone  who 
wishes  to  read  chapters  of  horrors  can  find  them  in  the  Report 
of  the  Committee  on  Alleged  German  Outrages,  presided  over  by  the 
former  British  Ambassador  to  this  country  and  therefore  generally 
known  as  "the  Bryce  report;"  in  the  official  reports  by  the  Belgian 
Commission  d'Enquete;  in  the  official  French  reports  compiled 
under  the  auspices  of  the  French  minister  for  foreign  affairs;  in 
many  other  publications,  and  especially  in  the  conclusive  ad- 
missions of  the  official  German  White  Book  cited  above.  The  last, 
published  by  the  German  Government,  is  the  most  damning- 
testimony  concerning  the  system  of  frightfulness. 


TREATMENT  OF  CIVILIANS. 


I.    MASSACRES. 

In  the  wars  waged  in  ancient  times  it  was  taken  for  granted  that 
conquered  peoples  might  be  either  killed,  tor- 
Protection    of    tured,   or  held   as   slaves;   that  their  property 

agreedToVyGer-     would  be  taken  and  that  their  lands  would  be 
many.  devastated.      "Vae    victis! — woe    to    the    con- 

quered!" For  two  centuries  or  more  there  has 
been  a  steady  advance  in  introducing  ideas  of  humanity  and 
especially  in  confining  the  evils  of  warfare  to  the  combatants. 
The  ideal  seemed  to  have  become  so  thoroughly  established  as  a 
part  of  international  law  that  the  powers  at  The  Hague  thought 
it  sufficient  merely  to  state  the  general  principles  in  Article  XLVI 
of  the  regulations:  "Family  honors  and  rights,  the  lives  of  persons 
and  private  property,  as  well  as  religious  convictions  and  prac- 
tice, must  be  respected.  Private  property  can  not  be  confiscated." 
Germany,  in  common  with  the  other  powers,  solemnly  pledged 
her  faith  to  keep  this  article,  but  her  military 
But  her  mill-  iea(jers  hacj  no  intention  of  doing  so.  They  had 
tary  leaders  did  .  •  -,  -,  ^ 

not  acquiesce.         been  trained  in  the  ideas  voiced  by  Gen.  von 

Hartmann  40  years  ago:  "Terrorism  is  seen  to  be 
a  relatively  gentle  procedure,  useful  to  keep  the  masses  of  the 
people  in  a  state  of  obedience."  This  had  been  Bismarck's 
policy,  too.  According  to  Moritz  Busch,  Bismarck's  biographer, 
Bismarck,  exasperated  by  the  French  resistance,  which  was  still 
continuing  in  January,  1871,  said: 

"If  in  the  territory  which  we  occupy,  we  can  not  supply  every- 
thing for  our  troops,  from  time  to  time  we  shall 
Bi.snJ;Lr*ck's    send  a  flying  column  into  the  localities  which  are 
recalcitrant.     We  shall  shoot,  hang,  and  burn. 
After  that  has  happened  a  few  times,  the  inhabitants  will  finally 
come  to  their  senses." 

The  frightfulness  taught  by  the  German  leaders  had  held  full 
sway  in  Belgium.    This  is  best  seen  in  the  entries  in  the  diaries 
of  the  individual  German  soldiers. 
26 


GERMAN   WAR   PRACTICES.  '         27 

EXTRACTS   FROM   GERMAN  WAR  DIARIES. 

"During  the  night  of  August  15-16  Engineer  Gr gave 

the  alarm  in  the  town  of  Vise.  Everyone  was  shot  or  taken 
prisoner,  and  the  houses  were  burnt.  The  prisoners  were  made  to 
march  and  keep  up  with  the  troops."  (From  the  diary  of  non- 
commissioned officer  Keinhold  Koelm  of  the  Second  Battalion 
of  Engineers,  Third  Army  Corps.) 


"A  horrible  bath  of  blood.  The  whole  village  burnt,  the  French 
thrown  into  the  blazing  houses,  civilians  with  the  rest."  (From 
the  diary  of  Private  Hassemer,  of  the  Eighth  Army  Corps.) 


"In  the  night  of  August  18-19  the  village  of  Saint-Maurice  was 
punished  for  having  fired  on  German  soldiers  by  being  burnt  to 
the  ground  by  the  German  troops  (two  regiments,  the  12th 
Landwehr  and  the  17th) .  The  village  was  surrounded,  men  posted 
about  a  yard  from  one  another,  so  that  no  one  could  get  out. 
Then  the  Uhlans  set  fire  to  it,  house  by  house.  Neither  man, 
woman,  nor  child  could  escape;  only  the  greater  part  of  the  live 
stock  was  carried  off,  as  that  could  be  used.  Anyone  who 
ventured  to  come  out  was  shot  down.  All  the  inhabitants  left 
in  the  village  were  burnt  with  the  houses."  (From  the  diary  of 
Private  Karl  Scheufele*  of  the  Third  Bavarian  Regiment  of 
Landwehr  Infantry.) 


"At  10  o'clock  in  the  evening  the  first  battalion  of  the  178th 
marched  down  the  steep  incline  into  the  burning  village  to  the 
north  of  Dinant.  A  terrific  spectacle  of  ghastly  beauty.  At  the 
entrance  to  the  village  lay  about  fifty  dead  civilians,  shot  for 
having  fired  upon  our  troops  from  ambush.  In  the  course  of  the 
night  many  others  were  also  shot,  so  that  we  counted  over  200. 
Women  and  children,  lamp  in  hand,  were  forced  to  look  on  at  the 
horrible  scene.  We  ate  our  rice  later  in  the  midst  of  the  corpses, 
for  we  had  had  nothing  since  morning.  When  we  searched  the 
houses  we  found  plenty  of  wine  and  spirit,  but  no  eatables. 
Captain  Harnann  was  drunk."  (This  last  phrase  in  shorthand.) 


28  GERMAN    WAR    PRACTICES. 

(From  the  diary  of  Private  Philipp,  of  the  One  Hundred  and 
Seventy-eighth    Regiment  of  Infantry,  Twelfth  Army  Corps.) 


"Aug.  6th  crossed  frontier.  Inhabitants  on  border  very  good 
to  us  and  give  us  many  things.  There  is  no  difference  noticeable. 

"Aug.  23rd,  Sunday  (between  Birnal  and  Dinant,  village  of 
Disonge).  At  11  o'clock  the  order  comes  to  advance  after  the 
artillery  has  thoroughly  prepared  the  ground  ahead.  The 
Pioneers  and  Infantry  Regiment  178  were  marching  in  front  of 
us.  Near  a  small  village  the  latter  were  fired  on  by  the  in- 
habitants. About  220  inhabitants  were  shot  and  the  village 
was  burnt — artillery  is  continuously  shooting — the  village  lies 
in  a  large  ravine.  Just  now,  6  o'clock  in  the  afternoon,  the 
crossing  of  the  Maas  begins  near  Dinant  *  *  *  All  villages, 
chateaux,  and  houses  are  burnt  down  during  this  night.  It  was 
a  beautiful  sight  to  see  the  fires  all  round  us  in  the  distance. 

"Aug.  24th.  In  every  village  one  finds  only  heaps  of  ruins 
and  many  dead.  (From  the  diary  of  Matbern,  Fourth  Company, 
Eleventh  Jager  Battalion,  Marburg.) 


"A  shell  burst  near  the  llth  Company,  and  wounded  seven 
men,  three  very  severely.  At  5  o'clock  we  were  ordered  by  the 
officer  in  command  of  the  regiment  to  shoot  all  the  male  in- 
habitants of  Nomeny,  because  the  population  was  foolishly 
attempting  to  stay  the  advance  of  the  German  troops  by  force 
of  arms.  We  broke  into  the  houses,  and  seized  all  who  resisted, 
in  order  to  execute  them  according  to  martial  law.  The  houses 
which  had  not  been  already  destroyed  by  the  French  artillery 
and  our  own  were  set  on  fire  by  us,  so  that  nearly  the  whole 
town  was  reduced  to  ashes.  It  is  a  terrible  sight  when  helpless 
women  and  children,  utterly  destitute,  are  herded  together  and 
driven  into  France."  (From  the  diary  of  Private  Fischer. 
Eighth  Bavarian  Regiment  of  Infantry,  Thirty-third  Reserve 
Division.) 

Other  German  soldiers,  too,  we  are  glad  to  see,  show  their 
horror  at  the  foul  deeds. 


\VA1<     PKA<    I  U  *>  .  LM.I 

"The  inhabitants  have  fled  in  the  village.  It  was  horrible. 
There  was  clotted  blood  on  all  the  beards,  and  what  faces  one 
saw,  terrible  to  behold!  The  dead,  sixty  in  all,  were  at  once 
buried.  Among  them  were  many  old  women,  some  old  men, 
and  a  half-delivered  woman,  awful  to  see;  three  children  had 
clasped  each  other,  and  died  thus.  The  altar  and  the  vaults  of 
the  church  are  shattered.  They  had  a  telephone  there  to  com- 
municate with  the  enemy.  This  morning,  September  2,  all  the 
survivors  were  expelled,  and  I  saw  four  little  boys  carrying  a 
cradle,  with  a  baby  five  or  six  months  old  in  it,  on  two  sticks. 
All  this  was  terrible  to  see.  Shot  after  shot!  Thunderbolt 
after  thunderbolt!  Everything  is  given  over  to  pillage;  fowls 
and  the  rest  all  killed.  I  saw  a  mother,  too,  with  her  two 
children;  one  had  a  great  wound  on  the  head  and  had  lost  an 
eye."  (From  the  diary  of  Lance-Corporal  Paul  Spielmann,  of 
the  Ersatz,  First  Brigade  of  Infantry  of  the  Guard.) 


*  *  *  In  the  night  the  inhabitants  of  Liege  became  mutin- 
ous. Forty  persons  were  shot  and  15  houses  demolished,  10 
soldiers  shot.  The  sights  here  make  you  cry. 

"On  the  23rd  August  everything  quiet.  The  inhabitants  have 
so  far  given  in.  Seventy  students  were  shot,  200  kept  prisoners. 
Inhabitants  returning  to  Liege. 

"Aug.  24th.  At  noon  with  36  men  on  sentry  duty.  Sentry 
duty  is  A  1,  no  post  allocated  to  me.  Our  occupation,  apart 
from  bathing,  is  eating  and  drinking.  We  live  like  God  in 
Belgium.'7  (From  the  diary  of  Joh.  van  der  Schoot,  reservist 
of  the  Tenth  Company,  Thirty-ninth  Eeserve  Infantry  Regi- 
ment, Seventh  Reserve  Army  Corps.) 


"August  17th.  In  the  afternoon  I  had  a  look  at  the  little 
chateau  belonging  to  one  of  the  King's  secretaries  (not  at  home) . 
Our  men  had  behaved  like  regular  vandals.  They  had  looted 
the  cellar  first,  and  then  they  had  turned  their  attention  to  the 
bedrooms  and  thrown  things  about  all  over  the  place.  They  had 
even  made  fruitless  efforts  to  smash  the  safe  open.  Everything 
was  topsy-turvy — magnificent  furniture,  silk,  and  even  china. 
That's  what  happens  when  the  men  are  allowed  to  requisition 


30  GERMAN    WAR    PRACTICES. 

for  themselves.  I  am  sure  they  must  have  taken  away  a  heap 
of  useless  stuff  simply  for  the  pleasure  of  looting.'' 

"Aug.  23rd.  *  *  *  Our  men  came  back  and  said  that  at 
the  point  where  the  valley  joined  the  Meuse  we  could  not  get 
on  any  furthsr  as  the  villagers  were  shooting  at  us  from  every 
house.  We  shot  the  whole  lot — 16  of  them.  They  were  drawn 
up  in  three  ranks;  the  same  shot  did  for  three  at  a  time. 
"  *  *  *  The  men  had  already  shown  their  brutal  in- 
stincts; *  *  * 

"The  sight  of  the  bodies  of  all  the  inhabitants  who  had  been 
shot  was  indescribable.  Every  house  in  the  whole  village  was 
destroyed.  We  dragged  the  villagers  one  after  another  out  of 
the  most  unlikely  corners.  The  men  were  shjot  as  well  as  the 
women  and  children  who  were  in  the  convent,  since  shots  had 
been  fired  from  the  convent  windows;  and  we  burnt  it  afterwards. 

"The  inhabitants  might  have  escaped  the  penalty  by  hand- 
ing over  the  guilty  and  paying  15,000  francs. 

"The  inhabitants  fired  on  our  men  again.  The  division  took 
drastic  steps  to  stop  the  villages  being  burnt  and  the  inhabitants 
being  shot.  The  pretty  little  village  of  Gue  d'Ossus,  however, 
was  apparently  set  on  fire  without  cause.  A  cyclist  fell  off  his 
machine  and  his  rifle  went  off.  He  immediately  said  he  had 
been  shot  at.  All  the  inhabitants  were  burnt  in  the  houses. 
I  hope  there  will  be  no  more  such  horrors. 

"At  Leppe  apparently  200  men  were  shot.  There  must  have 
been  some  innocent  men  among  them.  In  future  we  shall  have 
to  hold  an  inquiry  as  to  their  guilt  instead  of  shooting  them. 

"In  the  evening  we  marched  to  Maubert-Fontaine.  Just  as 
we  were  having  our  meal  the  alarm  was  sounded — everyone  is 
very  jumpy. 

"September  3rd.  Still  at  Rethel,  on  guard  over  prisoners. 
*  *  *  The  houses  are  charming  inside.  The  middle  class  in 
France  has  magnificent  furniture.  We  found  stylish  pieces 
everywhere  and  beautiful  silk,  but  in  what  a  state  *  *  * 
Good  God!  *  *  Every  bit  of  furniture  broken,  mirrors 

smashed.  The  Vandals  themselves  could  not  have  done  more 
damage.  This  place  is  a  disgrace  to  our  army.  The  inhabi- 
tants who  fled  could  not  have  expected,  of  course,  that  all  their 
goods  would  have  been  left  intact  after  so  many  troops  had 


WAR    PRACTICED.  31 

passed.  But  the  column  commanders  are  responsible  for  the 
greater  part  of  the  damage,  as  they  could  have  prevented  the 
looting  and  destruction.  The  damage  amounts  to  millions  of 
marks;  even  the  safes  have  been  attacked. 

,  "In  a  solicitor's  house,  in  which,  as  luck  would  have  it,  all 
was  in  excellent  taste,  including  a  collection  of  old  lace  and 
Eastern  works  of  .art,  everything  was  smashed  to  bits. 

"I  could  not  resist  taking  a  little  memento  myself  here  and 
there.  *  *  *  One  house  was  particularly  elegant,  everything 
in  the  best  taste.  The  hall  was  of  light  oak;  T  found  a  splendid 
raincoat  under  the  staircase  and  a  camera  for  Felix."  (From 
the  diary  of  an  officer  in  the  One  Hundred  Seventy-eighth  Regi- 
ment, Twelfth  Saxon  Corps.) 

But  this  horror  apparently  was  not  shared  by  the  German 
commander  in  chief,  as  is  evident  from  the  following: 


"ORDER. 

I 

"To  the  People  of  Liege. 

"The  population  of  Andenne,  after  making  a  display  of  peaceful 
intentions  towards  our  troops,  attacked  them  in  the  most 
treacherous  manner.  With  my  authorisation,  the  General 
commanding  these  troops  has  reduced  the  town  to  ashes  and  has 
had  110  persons  shot. 

"I  bring,  this  fact  to  the  knowledge  of  the  people  of  Liege  in 
order  that  they  may  know  what  fate  to  expect  should  they  adopt 
a  similar  attitude. 

"Liege,  22nd  August,  1914. 

"GENERAL  VON  BULOW." 

The  following  "Order  of  the  Day"  shows  how  the  town  of 
Huy  escaped  a  like  fate.  Drunken  German  soldiers  were 
frightened  and  began  to  shoot  men  and  burn  houses.  The  com- 
manding officer  condemned  this  because  it  was  not  done  by  his 
order  and  because  two  German  soldiers  were  wounded.  It  is 
evident  that  ma,-sarre>  and  arson  were  permitled  only  \vheii 
commanded  by  the  officers. 

"Last  night  a  shooting  affray  took  place.  There  is  no  evidence 
that  the  inhabitants  of  the  towns  had  any  arms  in  their  houses, 
nor  is  there  evidence  that  the  people  took  part  in  the  shooting; 
-on  the  contrary,  it  seems  that  the  soldiers  were  under  the 


32  GERMAN    WAR    PRACTICES. 

influence  of  alcohol,  and  began  to  shoot  in  a  senseless  fear  of  a 
hostile  attack. 

"The  behavior  of  the  soldiers  during  the  night,  with  very 
few  exceptions,  makes  a  scandalous  impression. 

"It  is  highly  deplorable  when  officers  or  noncommissioned 
officers  set  houses  on  fire  without  permission  or  order  of  the 
commanding,  or,  as  the  case  may  be,  the  senior  officer,  or  when 
by  their  attitude  they  encourage  the  rank  and  file  to  burn  and 
plunder. 

"I  require  that  everywhere  strict  instructions  shall  be  given 
with  regard  to  the  treatment  of  the  life  and  property  of  the 
civilian  population. 

"I  prohibit  all  shooting  in  the  towns  without  the  order  of  an 
officer. 

"The  miserable  behaviour  of  the  men  caused  a  noncommis- 
sioned officer  and  a  private  to  be  seriously  wounded  by  German 
bullets. 

"The  Commanding  Officer, 

"MAJOR  VON  BASSEWITZ." 

In  his  report  of  September  12,  1917,  to  the  Secretary  of  State, 
Minister  Whitlock  has  much  to  tell  of  the  policy  of  frightfulness. 
The  following  passages  refer  to  the  subject  of  massacres: 

"Summary  executions  took  place  [at  Dinant]  without  the  least 
semblance  of  judgment.  The  names  and  number  of  the  victims 
are  not  known,  but  they  must  be  numerous.  I  have  been 
unable  to  obtain  precise  details  in  this  respect  and  the  number 
of  persons  who  have  fled  is  unknown.  Among  the  persons  who 
were  shot  are:  Mr.  Defoin,  mayor  of  Dinant;  Sasserath,  first 
alderman;  Nimmer,  aged  70;  consul  for  the  Argentine  Republic, 
Victor  Poncelet,  who  was  executed  in  the  presence  of  his  wife 
and  seven  children;  Wasseige  and  his  two  sons;  Messrs.  Gustave 
and  Leon  Nicaise,  two  very  old  men;  Jules  Monin  and  others 
were  shot  in  the  cellar  of  their  brewery.  Mr.  Camille  Pistte  and 
son,  aged  17;  Phillippart,  Piedfort,  his  wife  and  daughter;  Miss 
Marsigny.  During  the  execution  of  about  forty  inhabitants 
Germans  force  °f  Dinant,  the  Germans  placed  before  the  con- 
wives  to  witness  demned  their  wives  and  children.  It  is  thus 
husbands' execu-  that  Madame  Albin  who  had  just  given  birth 
tions-  to  a  child,  three  days  previously,  was  brought 

on  a  mattress  by  German  soldiers  to  witness  the  execution  of 
her  husband;  her  cries  and  supplications  were  so  pressing  that 
her  husband's  life  was  spared." 

"On  the  26th  of  August  German  soldiers  entered  various 
streets  [of  Louvain]  and  ordered  the  inhabitants  of  the  houses 
to  proceed  to  the  Place  de  la  Station,  where  the  bodies  of  nearly 
a  dozen  assassinated  persons  were  lying.  Women  and  children 


GERMAN    WAR    PRACTICES.  33 

were  separated  from  the  men  and  forced  to  remain  on  the  Place 
de  la  Station  during  the  whole  day.  They  had  to  witness  the 
execution  of  many  of  their  fellow-citizens,  who  were  for  the  most 
part  shot  at  the  side  of  the  square,  near  the  house  of  Mr. 
Hemaide.  The  women  and  children,  after  having  remained  on 
the  square  for  more  than  15  hours,  were  allowed  to  depart.  The 
Gardes  Civiques  of  Louvain  were  also  taken  prisoners  and  sent 
to  Germany,  to  the  camp  of  Miinster,  where  they  were  held  for 
several  weeks. 

"On  Thursday,  August  27th,  order  was  given  to  the  inhabitants 
to  leave  Louvain  because  the  city  was  to  be  bombarded.  Old 
men,  women,  children,  the  sick,  priests,  nuns,  were  driven  on 
the  roads  like  cattle.  More  than  10,000  of  the  inhabitants  were 
driven  as  far  as  Tirlemont,  18  kilometers  from  Louvain." 

"One  of  the  most  sorely  tried  communities  was  that  of  the 
little  village  of  Tamines,  down  in  what  is  known  as  the  Borinage, 
the  coal  fields  near  Charleroi.  Tamines  is  a  mining  village  in 
the  Sambre;  it  is  a  collection  of  small  cottages  sheltering  about 
5,000  inhabitants,  mostly  all  poor  laborers. 

"The  little  graveyard  in  which  the  church  stands  bears  its 

mute  testimony  to   the   horror  of  the  event. 
Massacres  in    mi  i        S      i       j?  i 

Tamines.  Ihere  are  hundreds  of  new-made  graves,  each 

with  its  small  wooden  cross  and  its  bit  of  flowers; 
the  crosses  are  so  closely  huddled  that  there  is  scarcely  room  to 
walk  between  them.  The  crosses  are  alike  and  all  bear  the 
same  date,  the  sinister  date  of  August  22d,  1914." 

"But  whether  their  hands  were  cut  off  or  not,  whether  they 
were  impaled  on  bayonets  or  not,  children  were  shot  down,  by 
military  order,  in  cold  blood.  In  the  awful  crime  of  the  Rock 
of  Bayard,  there  overlooking  the  Meuse  below  Dinant,  infants 
in  their  mother's  arms  were  shot  down  without  mercy.  The 
deed,  never  surpassed  in  cruelty  by  any  band  of  savages,  is 
described  by  the  Bishop  of  Namur  himself: 

"One  scene  surpasses  in  horror  all  others;  it  is  the  fusillade  of 

the  Rocher  Bayard  near  Dinant.     It  appears  to 

thfSSocents  at  have  been  ordered  *>y  Colonel  Meister.  This 
Rocher  Bayard.  fusillade  made  many  victims  among  the  nearby 
parishes,  especially  those  of  des  Rivages  and 
Neffe.  It  caused  the  death  of  nearly  90  persons,  without  dis- 
tinction of  age  or  sex.  Among  the  victims  were  babies  in  arms, 
boys  and  girls,  fathers  and  mothers  of  families,  even  old  men. 

•  "It  was  there  that  12  children  under  the  age  of  6  perished  from 
the  fire  of  the  executioners,  6  of  them  as  they  lay  in  their  mothers' 
arms: 

"The  child  Fie  vet,  3  weeks  old. 
"Maurice  Betemps,  11  months  old. 
"Nelly  Pellet,  11  months  old. 


34  GERMAN    WAR   PRACTICES. 

"Gilda  Genon,  18  months  old. 

"Gilda  Marchot,  2  years  old. 

"Clara  Struvay,  2  years  and  6  months. 

"The  pile  of  bodies  comprised  also  many  children  from  6  to 
14  years.  Eight  large  families  have  entirely  disappeared. 
Four  have  but  one  survivor.  Those  men  that  escaped  death— 
and  many  of  whom  were  riddled  with  bullets — were  obliged  to 
bury  in  a  summary  and  hasty  fashion  their  fathers,  mothers, 
brothers,  or  sisters;  then  after  heaving  been  relieved  of  their 
money  and  being  placed  in  chains  they  were  sent  to  Cassel 
[Prussia]." 

Mr.  Hugh  Gibson,  the  secretary  of  our  legation  in  Belgium, 
visited  Louvain  during  its  systematic  destructipn  by  the  Ger- 
mans. In  A  Journal  from  our  Legation  in  Belgium,  New  York, 
1917,  pages  164-165,  he  relates  what  the  German  officers  told 
him: 

"It  was  a  story  of  clearing  out  civilians  from  a  large  part  of 
the  town,  a  systematic  routing  out  of  men  from  cellars  and 
garrets,  wholesale  shootings,  the  generous  use  of  machine  guns, 
and  the  free  application  of  the  torch — the  whole  story  enough  to 
make  one  see  red.  And  for  our  guidance  it  was  impressed  on 
us  that  this  would  make  people  respect  Germany  and  think  twice 
about  resisting  her." 

German  pastors  and  professors  far  from  the  excitement  of  the 
firing  have  defended  this  policy  of  frightfulness,  e.  g.: 

"We  are  not  only  compelled  to  accept  the  war  that  is  forced 
upon  us     *     *     *    but  are  even  compelled  to 
Pastor  defends    cariy  On  this  war  with  a  cruelty,  a  ruthlessness, 
frightfulness.  J      ,  c  .          •      ui     j      • 

an  employment  ot  every  imaginable  device,  un- 
known in  any  previous  war."  Pastor  D.  Baumgarten,  in 
Deutsche  Reden  in  schwerer  Zeit,  "German  Speeches  in  Difficult 
Days." 


"The  fate  that  Belgium  has  called  down  upon  herself  is  hard 
for  the  individual,  but  not  too  hard  for  this  political  structure 
(Staatsgebilde') ,  for  the  destinies  of  the  immortal  great  nations 
stand  so  high  that  they  cannot  but  have  the  right,  in  case  of 
need,  to  stride  over  existences  that  cannot  defend  themselves, 
but  live,  as  parasites,  upon  the  rivalries  of  the  great."  Prof. 
H.  Oncken,  in  Siiddeutsche  Monatsheft,  "South  German 
Monthly." 


GERMAN    WAR   PRACTICES.  35 

Would  they  have  dared  to  defend  such  a  policy  if  they  could 
have  seen  the  announcement  sent  out  by  the  parish  of  St.  Hadeliri 
with  its  silent  eloquence? 

This  is  an  invitation  to  a  service  in  memory  of  60  men  and 
women  from  one  parish,  of  whom  all  but  two  were  killed  by  the 
Germans  in  the  massacre  of  August  5  and  6,  1914.  The  closing 
sentences  are: 

PRAY  TO  GOD  FOR  THE  REPOSE  OF  THEIR  SOULS. 

Gentle  Heart  of  Mary,  be  my  refuge. 

Our  Lady  of  Lourdes,  pray  for  us. 

St.  Joseph,  patron  of  Belgium,  pray  for  us. 

St.  Hadelin,  patron  of  the  parish,  pray  for  us. 

Sainte  Barbe,  patroness  of  kindly  death,  pray  for  us. 

After  reading  such  ghastly  accounts,  many  of  them  written 
by  German  eyewitnesses,  and  knowing  that  similar  tales  were 
published  widely  in  the  German  newspapers,  it  is  difficult  to 
read  with  patience  such  words  as  these: 

"The  German  Army  (in  which  I  of  course  include  the  Navy) 
is  to-day  the  greatest  institute  for  moral  education  in  the  world." 

"The  German  soldiers  alone  are  thoroughly  disciplined,  and 
have  never  so  much  as  hurt  a  hair  of  a  single  innocent  human 
being."  Houston  Stewart  Chamberlain,  in  Kriegsaufstitze , 
"War  Essays",  1914. 

''We  see  everywhere  how  our  soldiers  respect  the  sacred  de- 
fencelessness  of  woman  and  child."  Prof.  G.  Roethe,  in  Deutsche 
Reden  in  Sckwerer  Zeit,  "German  Speeches  in  Difficult  Days." 

II.    HOSTAGES  AND  SCREENS. 

The  massacres  described  above  were  a  part  of  the  German 
system  of  frightfulness.  Another  feature  of  this  system  was 
the  use  of  civilians  as  hostages  and  for  screens. 

In  discussing  the  use  of  hostages  the  German  War  Book 
(Kriegsbrauch  im  Landkriege)  says: 

"By  hostages  are  understood  those  persons  who,  as  security 
or  bail  for  the  fulfillment  of  treaties,  promises, 

Views  of  the  or  o^ei.  claims  are  taken  or  detained  bv  the 
German  General  .  ^  rp,  .  - .  . 

Staff.  opposing   State   or  its  army.     Their  provision 

has  been  less  usual  in  recent  wars,  as  a  result 
of  which  some  professors   of  the  law  of  nations  have  wrongly 


36  GERMAN   WAR   PRACTICES. 

decided  that  the  taking  of  hostages  has  disappeared  from  the 
practice  of  civilized  nations.     * 

"A  new  application  of  'hostage  right'  was  practiced  by  the 
German  Staff  in  the  war  of  1870,  when  it  compelled  leading 
citizens  from  French  towns  and  villages  to  accompany  trains 
and  locomotives  in  order  to  protect  the  railway  communications 
which  were  threatened  by  the  people.  Since  the  lives  of  peaceable 
inhabitants  were,  without  any  fault  on  their  part,  thereby  exposed 
to  grave  danger,  every  writer  outside  Germany  has  stigmatised 
this  measure  as  contrary  to  the  law  of  nations  and  as  unjustified 
towards  the  inhabitants  of  the  country." 

Although  their  deeds  in  the  Franco-Prussian  war  had  been 
universally  condemned,  as  they  themselves  admitted,  the  leaders 
did  not  intend  to  abandon  such  a  useful  measure  of  frightfulness. 
In  L'Interprete  Militaire  the  forms  were  provided  for  such  acts 
in  the  next  war.  Both  in  Belgium  and  in  France  the  Germans 
have  constantly  used  hostages.  The  evidence  is  contained  in  the 
proclamations  of  the  governing  authorities  and  also  in  the  diaries 
of  the  German  soldiers.  A  few  examples  from  these  will  illus- 
trate the  system  which  was  employed. 

A  specimen  of  the  arbitrariness  and  cruelty  is  furnished  by  the 
proclamation  of  Maj.  Dieckmann,  from  which  the  following 
sections  are  presented: 

FROM  A  PROCLAMATION  BY  MAJ.   DIECKMANN,   SEPTEMBER,    1914. 

"4.  After  9  a.  m.  on  the  7th  September,  I  will  permit  the 
houses  in  Beyne-Heusay,  Grivegnee,  and  Bois-de-Breux  to  be 
inhabited  by  the  persons  who  lived  in  them  formerly,  as  long  as 
these  persons  are  not  forbidden  to  frequent  these  localities  by 
official  prohibition. 

"5.  In  order  to  be  sure  that  the  above-mentioned  permit  will 
not  be  abused,  the  Burgomasters  of  Beyne- 

Maj.  Dieck-  jjeusay  and  of  Grivegnee  must  immediately 
mann  seizes  hos-  v_x  *  -11  i/ 

tages.  prepare  lists  of  prominent  persons  who  will  be 

held«as  hostages  for  24  hours  each  at  Fort  Fleron. 
September  6th,  1914,  for  the  first  time  [the  period  of  detention 
shall  be]  from  6  p.  m.  until  September  7th  at  midday. 

"The  life  of  these  hostages  depends  on  t*he  population  of  the 
above-mentioned  Communes  remaining  quiet  under  all  circum- 
stances. 

"During  the  night  it  is  severely  forbidden  to  show  any  luminous 
signals.  Bicycles  are  permitted  only  between  7  a.  m.  and 
5  p.  m.  (German  time). 


GERMAN    WAR   PRACTICES.  37 

"6.  From  the  list  which  is  submitted  to  me  I  shall  designate 
prominent  persons  who  shall  be  hostages  from  noon  of  one  day 
until  the  following  midday.  If  the  substitute  is  not  there  in  due 
time,  the  hostage  must  remain  another  24  hours  at  the  fort. 
After  these  24  hours  the  hostage  will  incur  the  penalty  of  death, 
if  the  substitute  fails  to  appear. 

"7.  Priests,  burgomasters,  and  the  other  members  of  the  Coun- 
cil are  to  be  taken  first  as  hostages. 

"8.  I  insist  that  all  civilians  who  move  about  in  my  district 
*  *  *  show  their  respect  to  the  German  officers  by  taking 
off  their  hats,  or  lifting  their  hands  to  their  heads  in  military 
salute.  In  case  of  doubt,  every  German  soldier  must  be  saluted. 
Anyone  who  does  not  do  this  must  expect  the  German  military 
to  make  themselves  respected  by  every  means." 


A  PROCLAMATION  BY  VON  Bl  LOW.  IN  NAMUR,  AUGUST,   1914. 

"1.  The  Belgian  and  French  soldiers  must  be  delivered  as 
prisoners  of  war  before  4  o'clock  in  front  of  the  prison.  Citizens 
who  do  not  obey  will  be  condemned  to  hard  labor  for  life  in 
Germany. 

"The  rigorous  inspection  of  houses  will  commence  at  4  o'clock. 
Every  soldier  found  will  be  immediately  shot. 

"2.  Arms,  powder,  and  dynamite  must  be  given  up  at  4  o'clock. 
Penalty,  being  shot. 

"Citizens  who  know  of  a  store  of  the  above  must  inform  the 
burgomaster,  under  penalty  of  hard  labor  for  life. 

"3.  Every  street  will  be  occupied  by  a  German  guard,  who  will 

Von  Biilow    take  ten  hostages  from  each  street,  whom  they 

takes  hostages  in    will  keep  under  surveillance.     If  there  is  any 

every  street.  rising  in  the  street ,  the  ten  hostages  will  be  shot. 

"4.  Doors  may  not  be  locked,  and  at  night  after  8  o'clock 
there  must  be  lights  at  three  windows  in  every  house. 

"5.  It  is  forbidden  to  be  in  the  street  after  8  o'clock.  The 
inhabitants  of  Namur  must  understand  that  there  is  no  greater 
and  more  horrible  crime  than  to  compromise  the  existence  of  the 
to-.vn  and  the  life  of  its  citizens  by  risings  against  the  German 
Army. 

"The  Commander  of  the  Town, 

"VON  BiLow. 

"NAMUR,  25th  August,  1914-       (Printed  by  Chantraine)." 


o<S  GERMAN    WAR    PRACTICES. 

PROCLAMATION    POSTED    AT   BRUSSELS    AND    ELSEWHERE, 
OCTOBER   5,    1914. 

"September  25th,  in  the  evening,  the  railroad  track  and  tele- 
graph were  destroyed  on  the  line  Lovenjoul-Vertryck. 

"Henceforth  the  villages  situated  nearest  the  spot  where  such 

events    take    place — it    is    of    no    consequence 

^Hostages    are    wnether   they  are  guilty  or  not — will   be   pun- 

for  raiiroadsf1        ished  without  mercy.     For  this  purpose  hostages 

have  been  taken  from  all  places  in  the  vicinity 

of  railways  in  danger  of  similar  attacks;  and  at  the  first  attempt 

to  destroy  any  railway,  telegraph,  or  telephone  line  they  will 

be  immediately  shot. 

"Furthermore,   all  troops  entrusted  with  the  protection  of 
railways   have   received   orders   to   shoot   anyone   approaching 
railways  or  telegraph  or  telephone  lines  in  a  suspicious  manner. 
"The  Governor  General  of  Belgium, 

"BARON  VON  DER  GOLTZ, 

"Field-Marshal." 


PROCLAMATION    TO    THE    POPULATION    OF   RHEIMS. 

"In  order  to  insure  sufficiently  the  safety  of  our  troops  and  the 
tranquility  of  the  population  of  Rheims,  the  persons  mentioned 
have  been  seized  as  hostages  by  the  Commander  of  the  German 
Army.  These  hostages  will  be  shot  if  there  is  the  least  disorder. 
On  the  other  hand,  if  the  town  remains  perfectly  calm  and  quiet 
these  hostages  and  inhabitants  will  be  placed  under  the  protection 
of  the  German  Army. 

"THE  GENERAL  COMMANDING. 

"RHEIMS,  12th  September,  1914." 

Beneath  this  proclamation  there  were  posted  the  names  of 
81  hostages  and  a  statement  that  others  had  also 

Over  i  hos-  been  seized  as  hostages.  The  lives  of  all  these 
tages  in  Rheims.  & 

men  depended  in  reality  upon  the  interpretation 

which  the  German  military  authorities  might  give  to  the  elastic 
phrase,  "the  least  disorder,"  in  the  proclamation. 

Hugh  Gibson,  in  A  Journal  from  our  Legation  in  Belgium, 
page  184,  explains  what  was  likely  to  happen: 

"Another  thing  is,  that  on  entering  a  town,  they  hold  the 
burgomaster,  the  procureur  du  roi,  and  other  authorities  as 
hostages  to  insure  good  behavior  by  the  population.  Of  course, 
the  hoodlum  class  would  like  nothing  better  than  to  see  their 
natural  enemies,  the  defenders  of  law  and  order,  ignominiously 


GERMAN    WAR   PRACTICES.  39 

shot,  and  they  do  not  restrain  themselves  a  bit  on  account  of  the 
hostages."  t 

STATEMENT   FROM   DIARY    OF    BOMBARDIER   WETZEL. 

"Aug.  8th.     First  fight  and  set  fire  to  several  villages. 

"Aug.  9th.  Returned  to  old  quarters;  there  we  searched  all 
the  houses  and  shot  the  mayor  and  shot  one  man  down  from  the 
chimney  pot,  and  then  we  again  set  fire  to  the  \illage. 

"On  the  18th  August  Letalle  (?)  captured  10  men  with  three 
priests  because  they  have  shot  down  from  the  church  tower. 
They  were  brought  to  the  village  of  Ste.  jVIarie. 

"Oct.  5th.  We  were  in  quarters  in  the  evening  at  Willekamm. 
Lieut.  Radfels  was  quartered  in  the  mayor's 

at    house  and  there  had  two  prisoners  (tied  together) 
Willekanun.  ,  ,  .  -,  .  ,-•;.       ••    ' 

on  a  short  whip,  and  in  case  anything  happened 

they  were  to  be  killed. 

"Oct.  llth.  We  had  no  fight,  but  we  caught  about  20  men 
and  shot  them."  (From  the  diary  of  Bombardier  Wetzel, 
Second  Mounted  Battery,  First  Kurhessian  Field  Artillery, 
Regiment  No.  11.) 

The  Germans  also  found  it  convenient  on  many  occasions  to 
secure  civilians,  both  men  and  women,  who  could  be  forced  to 
march  or  stand  in  front  of  the  troops,  so  that  the  countrymen 
of  the  civilians  would  be  compelled  first  to  kill  their  own  people 
if  they  resisted  the  Germans.  This  usage  is  illustrated  in  the 
following: 

LETTER  OF  LIEUT.  EBERLEIN. 

"OCTOBER  7,  1914. 
"But  we  arrested  three  other  civilians,  and  then  I  had  a 

Civilians  used  brimant  iclea-  We  gave  tnem  chairs,  and 
as  screens.  we  then  ordered  them  to  go  and  sit  out  in  the 

middle  of  the  street.  On  their  part,  pitiful 
entreaties;  on  purs,  a  few  blows  from  the  butt  end  of  the  rifle.- 
Little  by  little  one  becomes  terribly  callous  at  this  business.  At 
last  they  were  all  seated  outside  in  the  street.  I  do  not  know 
what  anguished  prayers  they  may  have  said  but  I  noticed  that 
their  hands  were  convulsively  clasped  the  whole  time.  I  pitied 
these  fellows,  but  the  .method  was  immediately  effective. 

"The  flank  fire  from  the  houses  quickly  diminished,  so  that 
we  were  able  to  occupy  the  opposite  house  and  thus  to  dominate 
the  principal  street.  Every  living  being  who  showed  himself 
in  the  street  was  shot.  The  artillery  on  its  side  had  done  good 
work  all  Iliis  time,  and  when,  toward  7  o'clock  in  the  evening. 


40  GERMAN    WAR    PRACTICES. 

the  brigade  advanced  to  the  assault  to  relieve  us  I  was  in  a 
position  to  report  that  Saint  Die  had  been  cleared  of  the  enemy. 

"Later  on  I  learned  that  the  regiment  of  reserve  which  entered 
Saint  Die  further  to  the  north  had  tried  the  same  experiment. 
The  four  civilians  whom  they  had  compelled  in  the  same  way  to  sit 
out  in  the  street  were  killed  by  French  bullets.  I  myself  saw 
them  lying  in  the  middle  of  the  street  near  the  hospital." 

"A.  EBERLEIN, 
' ' First-Lieu  tenant . ' ' 

Letter  publisned  on  the  7th  October,  1914,  in  the  "Vorabend- 
blatt"  of  the  Munchner  Neueste  Nachrichten. 

Minister  Whitlock,  in  his  report  of  September  12,  1917,  to 
the  Secretary  of  State,  gives  an  instance  of  this  German  practice 
of  seeking  protection. 

"The  Germans  attacked  Hougaerde  on  the  18th  August;    the 

Belgian   troops   were  holding  the  Gette  Bridge 

the  cassock^'         m  the  village.     The  Germans  forced  the  parish 

priest  of  Autgaerden  to  walk  in  front  of  them  as 

a  shield.     As  they  neared  the   barricade   the   Belgian   soldiers 

fired  and  the  priest  was  killed.     After  the  retreat  of  the  Belgians 

the  Germans  shot  4  men,  burned  50  houses,  and  looted  100." 

Hugh  Gibson,  in  A  Journal  from  our  Legation  in  Belgium,  page 
155,  gives  another  incident: 

"Two  old  priests  have  staggered  into  the  —  -  legation  more 
dead  than  alive  after  having  been  compelled  to  walk  ahead  of  the 
German  troops  for  miles  as  a  sort  of  protecting  screen.  One  of 
them  is  ill,  and  it  is  said  that  he  may  die  as  a  result  of  what  he 
has  gone  through." 

STATEMENTS    OF   CARDINAL   MERCIER   AND     HIS     FELLOW   BISHOPS. 

"At  the  time  of  the  invasion  Belgian  civilians,  in  twenty 
places,  were  made  to  take  part  in  operations  of  war  against  their 
own  country.  At  Termonde,  Lebbeke,  Dinant,  and  elsewhere 
in  many  places,  peaceable  citizens,  women,  and  children  were 
forced  to  march  in  front  of  German  regiments  or  to  make  a  screen 
before  them. 

"The  system  of  hostages  was  carried  out  with  a  fierce  cruelty. 

Cardinal  Mer-  The  proclamation  of  August  4th,  quoted  above, 
cier's  judgment  declared,  without  circumlocution:  'Hostages 
on  the  system  of  wiH  be  freely  taken.' 

hostages.  «^n   officjrQ   proclamation,    posted   at   Liege, 

in  the  early  days  of  August,  ran  thus:    'Every  aggression  com- 


GERMAN    WAR   PRACTICES.  41 

mittecl  against  the  German  troops  by  any  persons  other  than 
soldiers  in  uniform  not  only  exposes  the  guilty  person  to  be  im- 
mediately shot,  but  will  also  entail  the  severest  reprisals  against 
all  the  inhabitants,  and  especially  against  those  natives  of  Liege 
who  have  been  detained  as  hostages  in  the  citadel  of  Liege  by 
the  commandant  of  the  German  troops.' 

"These  hostages  are  Monsignor  Rutten,  Bishop  of  Liege; 
M.  Kleyer,  burgomaster  of  Liege;  the  senators,  representatives, 
and  the  permanent  deputy  and  sheriff  of  Liege." 

The  above  quotation  is  taken  from  An  Appeal  to  Truth, 
addressed  Nov.  24,  1915,  by  Cardinal  Mercier  and  the  other 
bishops  of  Belgium  to  the  cardinals,  archbishops,  and  bishops  of 
Germany  and  Austria-Hungary. 

"Some  ten  or  a  dozen  American  correspondents,  of  whom  I  was 

one,  witnessed  the  First  German  drive  through 
Will  Irwin  on    T,  i  .  Ar  r  n    , 

brutalitv  of  Ger-    Belgium.     Most   of  us   were   so   appalled   and 

man  "drive    horrified  by  what  we  saw  as  to  become  anti- 

through  Bel-    German    for    life."     Will    Irwin,    in    Saturday 

Evening  Post,  Oct.  6,  1917,  p.  41. 


III.    FINES. 

The  contracting  nations,  including  Germany,  who  signed  the 
Conventions  of  the  Second  Peace  Conference  at  The  Hague,  1907, 
pledged  themselves  to  the  following: 

"Article   L.  No   general   penalty,    pecuniary   or   otherwise, 

Germany's  shall  be  inflicted  upon  the  population  on  account 

Hague    conven-  °f  ^ne  ac^s  °f  individuals  for  which  they  can  not 

tions.  be  regarded  as  jointly  and  severally  responsible." 

"Article  LIL  Requisitions  in  kind  and  services  shall  not 
be  demanded  from  municipalities  or  inhabitants  except  for  the 
deeds  of  the  army  of  occupation.  They  shall  be  in  proportion 
to  the  resources  of  the  country,  and  of  such  a  nature  as  not  to 
involve  the  inhabitants  in  the  obligation  of  taking  part  in  military 
operations  against  their  own  country." 

The  German  authorities  have  violated  these  articles  from  the 
very    beginning.     As    soon    as    thej-    invaded 

German  viola-  Belgium,  heavy  fines  were  laid  upon  individual 
tions  of  Hague  ...  •  i  <? 

conventions.  communities  as  reprisals  for  some  act  against 

the  German  Army  or  its  regulations  Avhich  was 
committed  within  their  boundaries.  In  An  Appeal  to  Truth 
Cardinal  Mercier  cites  the  following  e;i -<•.-: 


42  GEKMAN   WAR   PRACTICES. 

"Malines,  a  working-class  town,  without  resources,  has  had 
a  fine  of  20,000  marks  inflicted  on  it  because  the  burgomaster 
did  not  inform  the  military  authority  of  a  journey  which  the 
Cardinal,  deprived  of  the  use  of  his  motor  car,  had  been  obliged 
to  make  on  foot.  In  fact,  upon  the  flimsiest  pretexts  heavy  fines 
are  inflicted  on  communes .  The  commune  of  Puers  was  sub j  ected 
to  a  fine  of  3,000  marks  because  a  telegraph  wire  was  broken, 
although  the  inquiry  showed  that  it  had  given  way  through  wear." 

In  addition  to  such  arbitrary,  sporadic  exactions,  in  December, 
1914,  the  Germans  demanded  40,000,000  francs  ($8,000,000) 
a  month  to  be  paid  by  the  Belgian  Provinces  jointly. 

Concerning  this  enormous  imposition  Cardinal  Mercier  says, 
in  the  Appeal  to  Truth : 

"The  essential  condition  of  the  legality  of  a  contribution  of  this 
kind,  according  to  the  Hague  Convention,  is  that  it  should  bear 
relation  to  the  resources  of  the  country,  article  52. 

"Now,  in  December,  1914,  Belgium  was  devastated.  Con- 
tributions of  war  imposed  on  the  towns  and  in- 

Cardinal  Mer-  numerable  requisitions  in  kind  had  exhausted 
her.  The  greater  part  of  the  factories  were  idle, 
and  in  £hose,  which  were  still  at  work,  raw  materials  were,  con- 
trary to  all  law,  being  freely  commandeered. 

"It  was  on  this  impoverished  Belgium,  living  on  foreign 
charity,  that  a  contribution  of  nearly  500,000,000  francs  was 
imposed." 

The  German  authorities  were  not  satisfied  with  this  im- 
poverishing levy.  In  November,  1915,  one 

The  crushing  month  before  the  expiration  of  the  twelve- 
fine  is  increased.  «  »  i  i 

month  period  fixed  for  the  levy,  they  decreed 

that  this  contribution  of  40,000,000  francs  a  month  should  be 
paid  for  an  indefinite  period.  In  November,  1916,  they  in- 
creased the  levy  to  50,000,000  francs  a  month,  in  May,  1917, 
to  60,000,000  francs  a  month.  In  addition,  the  German 
authorities  have  continued  to  levy  fines  upon  towns  and  villages 
for  acts  committed  in  their  neighborhood,  although  they  had 
no  proof  that  these  acts  had  been  committed  by  any  inhabitant 
of  the  city  or  village  thus  fined.  (Compare  taking  of  hostages, 
noted  above.) 

The  German  military  rulers  have  also  made  the  families  re- 
sponsible for  acts  committed  by  or  charged  against  members  as 
is  shown  in  the  following  examples,  which  are  quoted  from  the 
Appeal  to  Truth,  cited  above. 


GERMAN   WAR   PRACTICES.  43 

"The  Belgian  Government  has  sent  orders  to  rejoin  the 
army  to  the  militiamen  of  several  classes. 
*  *  *  All  those  who  receive  these  orders 
are  strictly  forbidden  to  act  upon  them.  *  *  * 

In  case  of  disobedience  the  family  of  the,  militiaman  will  be  held 

equally  responsible." 

"A  warning  of  the  Governor  General,  dated  January  26th, 

1915,  renders  the  members  of  the  family  responsible  if  a  Belgian 

fit  for  military  service,  between  the  ages  of  16  and  40,  goes  to 

Holland." 

The  Commander  in  Chief  of  the  German  army  in  Belgium 
posted  a  proclamation  declaring: 

"The  villages  where  acts  of  hostility  shall  be  committed 
bv  the  inhabitants  against  our  troops  will  be 


''For  all  destruction  of  roads,  railways, 
bridges,  etc.,  the  villages  in  the  neighborhood  of  the  destruction 
will  be  held  responsible. 

"Tne  punishments  announced  above  will  be  carried  out 
severely  and  without  mercy.  The  whole  community  will  be 
held  responsible.  Hostages  will  be  taken  in  large  numbers. 
The  heaviest  war  taxes  will  be  levied." 

At  the  end  of  the  Appeal  to  Truth  Cardinal  Mercier  says: 

"But  we  can  not  say  all  here,  nor  quote  all. 
"If,  however,  our  readers  wish  for  the  proof  of  the  accusa- 
tions    *     *     *     we    shall    be    glad    to    furnish 
"    tnem-     There  is  not  in  our  letter,  nor  in  the 
four  annexes-  [to  the  Appeal  to  Truth],  one  alle- 
gation of  which  we  have  not  the  proofs  in  our  records." 

A  striking  illustration  of  the  German  methods  is  contained 
in  the  archives  of  the  State  Department,  because  the  Prince  of 
Monaco  appealed  to  President  Wilson  against  the  injustice  of  a 
fine  imposed  upon  a  small  and  impoverished  village.  The  fol- 
lowing documents  from  the  State  Department  archives  tell  the 
story.  They  need  no  comments. 

"PARIS,  Oct.  27,  1914. 
"SECRETARY  OF  STATE, 

"Washington. 

"Prince  of  Monaco  called  this  morning  and  asked  that  the 
following  case  be  submitted  to  the  President: 

"Prince  states  that  General  von  Biilow  for  weeks  has  been 
inhabiting  Prince's  ancestral  chateau  near 
Rheims,  historical  monument,  containing  works 
of  art  and  family  heirlooms:  that  von  Biilow 


44  GKRMA.S   VAK  PKACTK  *:<. 

has  imposed  fine  of  five  hundred  thousand  francs  on  village  of* 
Sissonne  some  miles  distant  from  chateau,  because  broken  glass 
found  on  road  near  village.  Sissonne  being  unable  alone  to  pay 
has  raised  with  a  number  of  other  neighboring  villages  one  hun- 
dred twenty-five  thousand  francs  but  von  Billow  has  sent  two 
messengers  from  Sissonne  to  Prince  that  unless  latter  pays  fine 
for  Sissonne  the  chateau  and  adjoining  village,  as  well  as  Sis- 
sonne, will  be  destroyed  on  November  first.  Prince  has  answered 
refusing  to  pay  sum  now  but  willing  to  give  his  word  to  German 
Emperor  that  amount  would  be  paid  after  removal  of  danger  of 
fresh  war  incidents.  Prince  now  fearful  lest  returning  messen- 
gers, as  well  as  male  employees  on  his  estate,  be  shot  because  of 
refusal  to  pay. 

"I  have  arranged  meeting  this  afternoon  between  Spanish 
Ambassador  and  Prince,  to  whom  I  have  suggested  that  matter 
be  presented  to  German  Government  through  Spanish  Am- 
bassador at  Berlin  inasmuch  as  Prince's  threatened  property  is 
in  France. 

"HERRICK." 
i 

"ARMY  HEADQUARTERS, 
"Warmeriville,  Sept.  19th,  1914. 
"To  the  MAYOR  OF  THE  COMMUNE  OF  SISSONNE, 

"Sissonne. 

"It  has  been  conclusively  proven  that  the  road  between 
Sissonne  and  the  railway  station  of  Montaigu 
™'  on  September  18th  strewn  with  broken 
glass  along  a  distance  of  one  kilometre  and 
at  intervals  of  50  metres,  for  the  purpose,  no  doubt,  of  im- 
peding automobile  traffic. 

"I  hold  the  commune  of  Sissonne  responsible  for  this  act  of 
hostility  on  the  part  of  its  inhabitants  and  I  punish  the  said 
commune  by  levying  upon  it  a  contribution  of  500,000  francs 
(five  hundred  thousand  francs) . 

"This  sum  must  be  entirely  paid  into  the  Treasury  of  the 
Etape  by  October  loth. 

"The  Inspection  of  the  Etape  now  at  Montcornet  has  been 
directed  to  enforce  execution  of  this  order. 

"The  General  Commander  in  Chief  of  the  Army. 

"Vox  BULOW." 


LETTER  ADDRESSED  TO  THE  GERMAN  EMPEROR. 

"MONACO,  Oct.  22nd,  1914. 
"SIRE: 

"I  forward  to  Your  Majesty  several  documents  relating  to 
a  very  grave  and  urgent  matter. 


GERMAN    WAK    PRACTICES .  45 

"The  General  von  Billow  has  caused  to  be  occupied  since 
one  month  and  a  half  my  residence  of  Mar- 
Prince  of  Mo-    cnajg     situated    at    five    kilometres    from    the 
naco  writes  .hm-       M1  ,.    0.  rr.-L  11          i      •    ^ 

peror  William.        village    of   Sissonne.     I  he    general   has    levied 

upon  the  fifteen  hundred  inhabitants  of  this 
poor  ruined  village  a  war  contribution  of  five  hundred  thousand 
francs,  of  which  they  are  unable  to  pay  more  than  one-quarter. 
Moreover,  he  has  sent  to  me  two  emissaries  bearing  a  document 
in  which  he  threatens  to  destroy  my  property  and  the  village  of 
Marchais,  over  and  above  that  of  Sissonne,  in  the  event  of  my 
not  disbursing  myself  the  sum  in  question  before  the  end  of  the 
month  of  October. 

"That  is  how  a  Prussian  general  treats  a  .reigning  Prince 
who  for  45  years  has  been  a  friend  to  Germany,  and  who  in  all 
the  countries  of  the  world  is  surrounded  with  respect  and  grati- 
inde  for  his  work. 

"In  reply  to  the  summons  of  the  General  von  Billow  I  have 
given  my  word  of  honor  to  complete  the  above  contribution 
in  order  to  avert  a  horrible  action  accomplished  in  cold  blood, 
but  adding  that  as  a  sovereign  Prince  I  submit  this  matter  to 
the  judgment  of  the  Emperor  by  declaring  that  the  said  sum 
shall  be  paid  when  the  Chateau  de  Marchais  will  be  free  from 
the  danger  of  intentional  destruction. 

"I  am,  with  great  respect,  Your  Majesty's  devoted 
servant  and  cousin, 

"ALBERT,  Prince  of  Monaco." 


LETTER  ADDRESSED  TO  GEN.  VON  BULOW. 

"MONACO,  Oct.  22nd,  1914. 
"GENERAL: 

"To  avert  from  the  Commune  of  Sissonne  and  that  of  Marchais 
the  rigorous  treatment  with  which  you  have  threatened  them, 
I  give  my  word  of  honor  to  remit  to  His  Majesty  the  Emperor 
William,  should  the  war  come  to  an  end  without  intentional 
damage  being  caused  to  my  residence  or  to  these  two  communes, 
the  necessary  sum  to  complete  the  amount  of  five  hundred  thou- 
sand francs  imposed  by  you  upon  Sissonne. 

"'As  a  Sovereign  Prince,  I  wish  to  deal  in  this  matter  with 
the  Sovereign  who,  during  fifteen  years,  i-nlled  me  his  fru-nd 
and  has  doooi-.-uvd  me  with  the  Order  of  th<-  Knight  of  the 


46  GERMAN    WAR   PRACTICES. 

"My  conscience  and  my  dignity  place  me  above  fear,   as 
also  my  personal  will  shall  elevate  me  above 

Prince  com-  regret;  but  should  you  destroy  the  Chateau 
ments  on  Ger-  ^e  Marchais  which  is  one  of  the  centers  of 
man  treatment  of  •  ,  i  ..  i  i  i 

monuments.  universal    science    and     charity,     should    yon 

reserve  to  this  archeological  and  historical 
gem  the  treatment  you  have  given  to  the  Cathedral  of  Rheims — 
when  no  reprehensible  action  has  been  committed  there — the 
whole  world  will  judge  between  you  and  myself. 

"I  tender  to  Your  Excellency  the  expression  of  my  high 
regard. 

"ALBERT,  Sovereign  Prince  of  Monaco." 


IV.  DEPORTATIONS  AND  FORCED  LABOR. 

Until  the  present  war  the  whole  civilized  world  has  boasted 
of    its    advance    in    humanity.     This    advance 
Advance  in  hu-    had  been  marked  in  many  fields,  and  in  none 
greater  progress   been  made   than   in   the 


protection  to  be  given  to  the  private  citizen 
in  an  invaded  country.     As  far  back  as  1863,  in  the  Instructions 
for  the  Government  of  Armies  of  the  United  States  in  the  Field 
the  United  States  declared: 

"22.  Nevertheless,  as  civilization  has  advanced  during  the 
last  centuries,  so  has  likewise  steadily  advanced, 

United  States  especially  in  war  on  land  ,  the  distinction  between 
treatment  of  civ-  .  ,.  .,  ,  ',  , 

ilians  1863.  *ne   private  individual   belonging  to   a   hostile 

country  and  the  hostile  country  itself,  with  its 
men  in  arms.  The  principle  has  been  more  and  more  acknowl- 
edged that  the  unarmed  citizen  is  to  be  spared  in  person, 
property,  and  honor  as  much  as  the  exigencies  of  war  will  admit. 

"23.  Private  citizens  are  no  longer  murdered,  enslaved, 
or  carried  off  to  distant  parts,  and  the  inoffensive  individual 
is  as  little  disturbed  in  his  private  relations  as  the  commander 
of  the  hostile  troops  can  afford  to  grant  in  the  overruling  de- 
mands of  a  vigorous  war. 

"24.  The  almost  universal  rule  in  remote  times  was,  and 
continues  to  be  with  barbarous  armies,  that  the  private  in- 
dividual of  the  hostile  country  is  destined  to  suffer  every  privation 
of  liberty  and  protection,  and  every  disruption  of  family  ties. 
Protection  was,  and  still  is  with  uncivilized  people,  the  ex- 
ception.'' 


GEKMAN    WAK    PRACTICES.  47 

These  declarations  were  made  in  the  midst  of  our  Civil  War — 
one  of  the  world's  fiercest   conflicts.     A  half- 
German  Gov-    century  later,  after  more  than  50  years  of  prog- 
siontobarbarism"    ress>  the  German  Government  has  gone  back  to 
the  methods  used  by  "barbarous  armies"  and 
"uncivilized  people."     It  has  deliberately  adopted  the  policy  of 
deporting  men  and  women,  boys  and  girls,  and  of  forcing  them 
to  work  for  their  captors;  it  has  even  compelled  them  to  make 
arms  and  munitions  for  use  against  their  allies  and  their  own 
flesh  and  blood. 

No  other  act  of  the  German  Government  has  aroused  such 
horror  and  detestation  throughout  the  civilized  world.  Thou- 
sands of  helpless  men  and  women,  boys  and  girls,  have  been  en- 
slaved. Families  have  been  broken  up.  Girls  have  been  car- 
ried off  to  work — or  worse — in  a  strange  land,  and  their  relatives 
have  not  known  where  they  have  been  taken,  or  what  their  fate 
has  been. 

This  system  of  forced  labor  and  deportation  embraced  the 
whole  of  Belgium,  Poland,  and  the  occupied  lands  of  France. 

The  plan  for  setting  forth  the  essential  facts  of  the  depor- 
tations and  forced  labor  is  as  follows:  the  documents,  that  is 
to  say,  a  small  fraction  of  those  which  could  be  cited,  will  be 
allowed  to  tell  the  story,  and  only  such  comments  will  be  added 
as  are  needed  to  enable  the  reader  easily  to  grasp  the  connection 
of  events. 

BELGIUM. 

"The  deportations  *  *  *  were  the  most  vivid,  shocking, 
convincing,  single  happening  in  all  our  enforced  observation 
and  experience  of  German  disregard  of  human  suffering  and 
human  rights  in  Belgium."  Vernon  Kellogg,  in  Atlantic  Monthly, 
October,  1917. 

A  summary  of  the  whole  situation,  down  to  January,  1917, 
can  be  obtained  by  reading  continuously  the  report  of  Minister 
W  hillock,  taken  from  the  files  of  the  State  Department,  which  is 
given  in  italics  on  pages  48-49,  53,  54-55,  67-68,  74-75,  78. 
The  insertion  of  his  report  at  appropriate  points  has  made  it 
possible  to  avoid  all  but  a  minimum  of  repetition. 


48  GERMAN   WAR   PRACTICES. 

"Legation  of  the  United  States  of  America, 

"Brussels,  January  16th,  1917. 
"The  Honorable  the  Secretary  of  State, 

"Washington. 

"Sir:  I  have  had  it  in  mind,  and  I  might  say,  on  my  conscience, 

Horrifying  be-  s^nce  the  Germans  began  to  deport  Belgian  workmen 
havior  of  the  Ger-  early  in  November,  to  prepare  for  the  Department 
mans  in  Belgium.  a  detailed  report  on  this  latest  instance  of  brutality, 
but  there  have  been  so  many  obstacles  in  the  way  of  obtaining  evidence 
on  which  a  calm  and  judicious  opinion  could  be  based,  and  one  is  so 
overwhelmed  with  the  horror  of  the  thing  itself,  that  it  has  been,  and 
even  now  is,  difficult  to  write  calmly  and  justly  about  it.  I  have  had 
to  content  myself  with  the  fragmentary  despatches  I  have  from  time 
to  time  sent  to  the  Department  and  with  doing  what  I  could,  little 
as  that  can  be,  to  alleviate  the  distress  that  this  gratuitous  cruelty 
has  caused  the  population  of  this  unhappy  land. 

"In  order  to  understand  fully  the  situation  it  is  necessary  to 
go   back   to   the   autumn   of  1914-     At   the   time 

Belgian  Gov-  we  were  organizing  the  relief  work,  the  Comite 
ernment  wished  National — the  Belgian  relief  organization  that 
to  support  unem-  collaborates  with  the  Commission  for  Relief  in 
ployed  Belgians.  Belgjum — proposed  an  arrangement  by  which 
the  Belgian  Government  should  pay  to  its  own 
employees  left  in  Belgium,  and  other  unemployed  men  besides, 
the  wages  they  had  been  accustomed  to  receive.  The  Belgians 
wished  to  do  this  both  for  humanitarian  and  patriotic  purposes; 
they  wished  to  provide  the  unemployed  with  the  means  of  liveli- 
hood, and,  at  the  same  time,  to  prevent  their  working  for  the  Ger- 
mans. I  refused  to  be  connected  in  any  way  with  this  plan,  and 
told  the  Belgian  committee  that  it  had  many  possibilities  of  danger; 
that  not  only  would  it  place  a  premium  on  idleness,  but  that  it 
ivould  ultimately  exasperate  the  Germans.  However,  the  policy 
was  adopted,  and  has  been  continued  in  practice,  and  on  the  rolls 
of  the  Comite  National  have  been  borne  the  names  of  hundreds  of 
thousands — some  700,000,  I  believe — of  idle  men  receiving  this 
dole,  distributed  through  the  communes. 

"The  presence  of  these  unemployed,  however,  was  a  constant 
temptation  to  German  cupidity.  Many  times 
't  G  x^Td  cupld~  they  sought  to  obtain  the  lists  of  the  chomeurs, 
but  were  always  foiled  by  the  claim  that  under 
the  g-uarantees  covering  the  relief  work,  the  records  of  the  Comite 
National  and  its  various  suborganizations  were  immune.  Rather 
than  risk  any  interruption  of  the  ravitaillement ,  for  which,  while 
loath  to  own  any  obligation  to  America,  the  Germans  have  always 
been  grateful,  since  it  has  had  the  effect  of  keeping  the  population 
calm,  the  authorities  never  pressed  the  point,  other  than  with  the 
burgomasters  of  the  communes.  Finally,  however,  the  military 


GERMAN   WAR   PRACTICES.  49 

party,  always  brutal,  and  with  an  astounding  ignorance  of  public 
opinion  and  of  moral  sentiment,  determined  to  put  these  idle  men  to 
work. 

"General  von  Bissing  and  the  civil  portion  of  his  entourage 
had  always  been  and  even  now  are  opposed  to  this  policy  and  I 
think  have  sincerely  done  what  they  could,  first,  to  prevent  its 
adoption,  and  secondly,  to  lighten  the  rigors  of  its  application." 
(Continued  on  page  53.) 

In  the  early  days  of  the  German  advance  into  Belgium, 
the  people  had  learned  to  fear  the  worst.  This  was  particularly 
true  in  Antwerp.  In  order  to  alleviate  their  fears  and  to  obtain 
guarantees  which  might  hasten  the  restoration  of  settled  con- 
ditions, Cardinal  Mercier  secured  from  the  German  governor 
of  Antwerp  promises,  and  in  a  circular  letter  dated  October  16th, 
1914,  asked  the  clergy  of  the  Province  of  Antwerp  to  communi- 
cate them  to  the  people: 

"The  governor  of  Antwerp,  Baron  von  Hoiningen,  General 
von  Huene,  has  authorized  me  to  inform  you 

Solemn  prom-  in  his  name  and  to  communicate  by  your 
ises  of  Germans  obliging  intermediary  to  our  populations  the 
not  to  exploit  ,  i  /•  11  •  11  .  * 

Belgians.  three  following  declarations: 

"(1)  The  young  men  need  not  fear  being 
taken  to  Germany,  either  to  be  enrolled  into  the  army  or  to 
be  employed  at  forced  labors. 

"(2)  If  individual  infractions  of  police  regulations  are  com- 
mitted, the  authorities  will  institute  a  search  for  the  respon- 
sible authors  and  will  punish  them,  without  placing  the  re- 
sponsibility on  the  entire  population. 

"(3)  The  German  and  Belgian  authorities  will  neglect  nothing 
to  see  that  food  is  assured  to  the  population." 

,  These  promises  were  not  kept,  as  Cardinal  Mercier  and 
his  colleagues  show  by  abundant  evidence  in  the  Appeal  to  Truth. 

"On  March  23rd,  at  the  arsenal  at  Luttre  the  German  authority 
posted  a  notice  demanding  return  to  work.  On  April  21st, 
200  workmen  were  called  for.  On  April  27th  soldiers  went  to 
fetch  the  workmen  from  their  homes  and  take  them  to  the 
arsenal.  In  the  absence  of  a  workman,  a  member  of  the  family 
was  arrested. 

"However,  the  men  maintained  their  refusal  to  work,  'be- 
cause   they    were    unwilling    to    co-operate    in 
Violation  of    acts  of  war  against  their  country.' 
German  prom-         ur.        .       .,=•  oru,         ,,  .  ...         -,  , 

ises>  On   April     30th,     the    requisitioned     work- 

men  were   not    released,    but   shut   up   in    the 
railway  carriages. 


50  GEHMAN    WAK    PKACTK  K>. 

"On  May  4th,  24  workmen  detained  in  prison  at  Nivelles 
were  tried  at  Mons  by  a  court-martial,  'on  the  charge  of  be- 
ing members  of  a  secret  society,  having  for  its  aim  to  thwart 
the  carrying  out  of  German  military  measures.'  They  were 
condemned  to  imprisonment. 

"On  May  8th,  1915,  48  workmen  were  shut  up  in  a  freight 

car  and  taken  to  Germany. 

Early  deporta-  «Qn  May  14th>  45  men  were  deporte(l  to 
tions,  /-j 

Germany. 

"On  May  18th  a  fresh  proclamation  announced  that  the 
prisoners'  would  receive  only  dry  bread  and  water,  and  hot 
food  only  every  four  days.  On  May  22nd  three  cars  with 
104  workmen  were  sent  towards  Charleroi." 

"A  similar  course  was  adopted  at  Malines,  where,  by  various 
methods  of  intimidation,  the  Gen-man  authorities  attempted  to 
force  the  workers  at  the  arsenal  to  work  on  material  for  the  rail- 
ways, as  if  it  were  not  plain  that  this  material  would  become 
war  material  sooner  or  later. 

"On  May  30th,  1915,  the  Governor  General  announced 
that  he  'would  be  obliged  to  punish  the  town  of  Malines  and 
its  suburbs  by  stopping  all  commercial  traffic  if  by  10  a.  m. 
on  Wednesday,  June  2nd,  500  workmen  had  not  presented 
themselves  for  work  at  the  arsenal.' 

"On  Wednesday,  June  2nd,  not  a  single  man  appeared. 
Accordingly,  a  complete  stoppage  took  place  of  every  vehicle 
within  a  radius  of  several  kilometres  of  the  town." 

"Several  workmen  were  taken  by  force  and  kept  two  or 
three  days  at  the  arsenal." 

"The  commune  of  Sweveghe?n  (Western  Flanders)  was  punished 

Belgians  asked  m  June>  1915,  because  the  350  workmen  at  the 
to  make  barbed  private  factory  of  M.  Bekaert  refused  to  make 
wire.  barbed  wire  for  the  German  Army. 

"The  following  notice  was  placarded  at  Menin  in  July- August, 
1915:  'By  order:  From  to-day  the  town  will  no  longer  afford 
aid  of  any  description — including  assistance  to  their  families, 
wives,  and  children — to  any  operatives  except  those  who  work 
regularly  at  military  work,  and  other  tasks  assigned  to  them. 
All  other  operatives  and  their  families  can  henceforward  not  be 
helped  in  any  fashion.' 

"Similar  measures  were  taken  in  October,  1915,  at  Harle- 
bekelez-Courtrai,  Bisseghem,  Lokeren  and  Mons. 

Punished     for  From  Harlebeke  29  inhabitants  were  transported 

refusal     to     work     ,        -,  \  ,    -MT  -T\TT  •    i     £ 

for  German  Army.  "°  Germany.  At  Mons,  in  M.  Lenoir  s  factory, 
the  directors,  foremen,  and  81  workmen  were 
imprisoned  for  having  refused  to  work  in  the  service  of  the  Ger- 
nuin  Army.  M.  Lenoir  was  sentenced  to  five  years'  imprison- 
ment, ihe  rive  directors  to  a  year  each.  0  foremen  to  6  months, 
and  tlie  SI  workmen  to  eight  weeks. 


GERMAN    WAR    PRACTICES.  51 

''The  General  Government  had  recourse  also  to  indirect 
methods  of  compulsion.  It  seized  the  Bel- 

withRed  C/oss6    gian  Red.  Cross>  confiscated  its  property,  and 
changed  its  purpose  arbitrarily.     It  attempted 
to  make  itself  master  of  the  public  charities  and  to  control  the 
National  Aid  and  Food  Committee. 

"If  we  were  to  cite  in  extenso  the  decree  of  the  Governor 
General  of  August  4th,   1915,  concerning  measures  intended  to 
assure  the  carrying  out  of  works  of  public  usefulness,  and  that  of 
.    .  August  15th,  1915,  'concerning  the  unemployed, 

Genmmrulers  of  w^°>  ^Irou9^  idleness,  refrain  from  work,'  it 
Belgium.  would  be  seen  by  what  tortuous  means  the  oc- 

cupying Power  attempts  to  attack  at  once  the 
masters  and  the  men." 

October  12th,  1915,  the  German  authorities  took  a  long 
step  in  the  development  of  their  policy  of  forcing  the  Belgians 
to  aid  them  in  prosecuting  the  war.  The  decree  of  that  date 
reveals  the  matter  and  openly  discloses  a  contempt  for  inter- 
national law. 

DECREE    O*F    OCTOBER    12,    1915. 

"Article  1.  Whoever,  without  reason,  refuses  to  undertake 
or  to  continue  work  suitable  to  his  occupation,  and  in  the  execu- 
tion of  which  the  military  administration  is  interested,  such 
work  being  ordered  by  one  or  more  of  the  military  commanders, 
will  be  liable  to  imprisonment  not  exceeding  one  year.  He  may 
also  be  transported  to  Germany. 

"Invoking  Belgian  laws  or  even  international  conventions  to 
the  contrary,  can,  in  no  case,  justify  the  refusal 

Germans  flout    to  work. 

^dTrde^Bel-  "On  the  subiect  °?  the  lawfulness  of  the 
gians  to  work  for  work  exacted,  the  military  commandant  has 
them.  the  sole  right  of  forming  a  decision. 

"Article  2.  Any  person  who  by  force, 
threats,  persuasion,  or  other  means  attempts  to  influence 
another  to  refuse  work  as  pointed  out  in  Article  1,  is  liable 
to  the  punishment  of  imprisonment  not  exceeding  five  years. 

"Article  3.  Whoever  knowingly  by  means  of  aid  given 
or  in  any  other  way  abets  a  punishable  refusal  to  work,  will 
be  liable  to  a  maximum  fine  of  10,000  marks,  and  in  addition 
may  be  condemned  to  a  year's  imprisonment. 

"If  communes  or  associations  have  rendered  themselves 
guilty  of  such  offence  the  heads  of  the  communes  will  be  punished. 

"Article  4.  In  addition  to  the  penalties  stated  in  Articles 
1  and  3,  the  German  authorities  may,  in  case  of  need,  impose 


52  GERMAN     VVAK    PRACTICES. 

on  communes,  where,  without  reason,  work  has  been  refused, 
a  fine  or  other  coercive  police  measures. 

"This  present  decree  comes  into  force  immediately. 

"Der  Etappeinspektf mr, 
"VoN  UNGER, 
"Generalleutnant . 

"GHENT,  October  12th,  1915." 

Cardinal  Mercier's  brief  comment  is  as  follows:  "The  in- 
justice and  arbitrariness  of  this  decree  exceed  all  that  could  be 
imagined.  Forced  labor,  collective  penalties  and  arbitrary 
punishments,  all  are  there.  It  is  slaverv,  neither  more  nor 

less." 

Cardinal  Mercier  was  in  error,  for  the  German  authorities 
were  able  to  imagine  a  much  more  terrible 

Octobers,  measure.  In  October,  1916,  when  the  need 
Government  ^or  an  additional  labor  supply  in  Ger-rntiiii; 
inaugurates  had  become  urgent,  the  German  government 
tations.4 '  established  the  system  of  forced  labor  and 

deportation  which  has  aroused  the  detestation 
of  Christendom.  The  reader  will  not  be  misled  by  the  clumsy 
effort  of  the  German  authorities  to  mask  the  real  purpose  of 
the  decree. 

THE  DECREE  OF  OCTOBER  3,  1916. 

"DECREE  CONCERNING  THE  LIMITING  OF  THE  BURDENS  ON 
PUBLIC  CHARITY     . 

"I.  People  able  to  work  may  be  compelled  to  work  even 
outside  the  place  where  they  live,  in  case  they 

German  verbal  have  to  apply  to  the  charity  of  others  for  the 
camouflage.  support  of  themselves  or  their  dependents  on 

account  of  gambling,  drunkenness,  loafing,  un- 
employment, or  idleness. 

"II.  Every  inhabitant  of  the  country  is  bound  to  render 
assistance  in  case  of  accident  or  general  danger,  and  also  to 
give  help  in  case  of  public  calamities  as  far  as  he  can,  even  outside 
the  place  where  he  lives;  in  case  of  refusal  he  may  be  compelled 
by  force. 

"III.  Anyone  called  upon  to  work,  under  Articles  I  or  II, 
\vho  shall  refuse  the  work,  or  to  continue  at  the  work  assigned 
him,  will  incur  the  penalty  of  imprisonment  up  to  three  years  and 
of  a  fine  up  to  10,000  marks,  or  one  or  other  of  these  penalties, 
unless  a  severer  penalty  is  provided  for  by  the  laws  in  force. 

"If  the  refusal  to  work  has  been  rn.-nle  in  concert  or  in  agree- 


GERMAN    WAR    1'KAOTICES.  53 

ment  with  several  persons,  each  accomplice  will  be  sentenced, 
as  if  he  were  a  ringleader,  to  at  least  a  week's  imprisonment. 
"IV.  The  German  military  authorities  and  Military  Courts 
will  enforce  the  proper  execution  of  this  decree. 

"The  Quartermaster  General,  SAUBERZWEIG. 
"GREAT  HEADQUARTERS,  3d  October,  1916." 

• 

The    responsibility   for   this    atrocious    program    rests    upon 
the  military  rulers  of  Germany,  who  had  labored 
Hindenburg' s    so  zealously  to  infect  the  army  and  the  people 
deportations^          with  the  principles  of  ruthlessness.     It  is  sig- 
nificant  that   the   decree   of   October   3,  1916, 
followed  hard  upon  the  elevation  of  Hindenburg  to  the  supreme 
command  with  Ludendorf  as  his  chief  of    staff.     In  his  long 
report  of  January  16,  1917,  Minister  Whitlock  says: 

REPORT    OF   MINISTER   WHITLOCK    (continued) 

"Then,  in  August,  von  Hindenburg  was  appointed  to  the  supreme 

command.     He    is    said    to    have    criticized    von 

Was     Bissing    Bissinq's  policy  as  too  mild:    there  was  a  quarrel; 

3.£T£iiriSt     Cid)0rt3.~  . 

tions?  von  Bissing  went  to  Berlin  to  protest,  threatened  to 

resign,  but  did  not.  He  returned,  and  a  German 
official  here  said  that  Belgium  would  now  be  subjected  to  a  more 
terrible  regime — would  learn  what  war  ivas.  The  prophecy  has  been 
vindicated.  Recently  I  was  told  that  the  drastic  measures  are  really 
of  Ludendorf  s  inspiration;  I  do  not  know.  Many  German  officers 
say  so."  (Continued  on  p.  54.) 

If  von  Bissing  had  opposed  the  policy  of  deportation  when 
his  own  judgment  was  overruled,  he  consented  to  become 
the  "devil's  advocate"  and  defended  the  system  in  public. 
Especially  instructive  is  the  following  conversation  reported 
by  Mr.  F.  C.  Walcott: 

VON  BISSING'S  CONVERSATION  WITH  MR.  WALCOTT. 

"I  went  to  Belgium  to  investigate  conditions,  and  while 
there  I  had  opportunity  *  *  *  to  talk  one  day  with  Gov- 
ernor General  von  Bissing,  who  died  three  or  four  weeks  ago,  a 
man  72  or  73  years  old,  a  man  steeped  in  the  'system/  born 
and  bred  to  the  hardening  of  the  heart  which  that  philosophy 
develops.  There  ought  to  be  some  new  word  coined  for  the 
process  that  a  man's  heart  undergoes  when  it  becomes  steeped 
in  that  system. 

"I  said  to  him,  'Governor,  what  are  you  going  to  do  if  England 
and  France  stop  giving  these  people  money  to  purchase  food?' 


54  GERMAN    WAR    PRACTICES. 

"He  said,  'We  have  got  that  all  worked  out  and  have  had 
it  worked  out  for  weeks,  because  we  have  expected  this  system 
to  break  down  at  any  time.' 

"He  went  on  to  say,  'Starvation  will  grip  these  people  in 
30  to  60  days.  Starvation  is  a  compelling 

Bissing     says    force,  and  we  would  use  that  force  to  compel 

tSe^cTrefS8    the  BelSian   workingmen,  many   of  them  very 

prepared?"  skilled,    to    go    into    Germany    to    replace    the 

Germans,  so  that  they  could  go  to  the  front 

and  fight  against  the  English  and  the  French.' 

"  'As  fast  as  our  railway  transportation  could  carry  them, 
we  would  transport  thousands  of  others  that  would  be  fit  for 
agricultural  work,  across  Europe  down  into  southeastern  Europe, 
into  Mesopotamia,  where  we  have  huge,  splendid  irrigation 
works.  All  thai  land  needs  is  water  and  it  will  blossom  like 
the  rose.' 

"  'The  weak  remaining,  the  old  and  the  young,  we  would 
concentrate  opposite  the  firing  line,  and  put  firing  squads  back 
of  them,  and  force  them  through  that  line,  so  that  the  English 
and  French  could  take  care  of  their  own  people.' 

"It  was  a  perfectly  simple,  direct,  frank  reasoning.  It 
meant  that  the  German  Government  would  use  any  force  in 
the  destruction  of  any  people  not  its  own  to  further  its  own 
ends."  (Frederic  C.  Walcott,  in  The  National  Geographic 
Magazine,  May,  1917.) 

A  brief  general  view  of  the  character  of  the  deportations 
can  perhaps  be  gained  best  from  the  report  of  Minister  Whit- 
lock. 

REPORT    OF   MINISTER   WHITLOCK    (continued). 

"The  deportation*  began  in,  October  in  the  Etape,  at  Ghent, 
and  at  Bruges,  as  my  brief  telegrams  indicated.  The  policy 
spread;  the  rich  industrial  districts  of  Ha.inaut,  the  mines  and 
xteel  work*  about  C'harleroi  were  next  attac.ken;  mnr  tin •//  are  seizing 
in,  Brabant,  even  in  Brussels,  despite  some  indications  and 
prediction.*  of  the  civil  authorities  that  the  policy  was  about 
to  be  abandoned. 

[The  etapes  were  the  parts  of  Belgium  under  martial  law, 
and  included  the  province  of  western  Flanders,  part  of  eastern 
Flanders.,  and  the  region  of  Tournai.  The  remainder  of  the 
occupied  part  of  Belgium  was  under  civil  government.] 

"During  the  last  fortnight  men  hare  been  impressed  here  in 
Brussels,  but  their  seizures  here  are  made  eri- 

.  T1*e    deporta-    flf>nf]{i  vr,7/?  much  greater  care  than  in  the  provinces, 
tions  begin.  .  ,  i     e        ^  rm 

with    more    regard  for    the    appearances.     Ihere 

u.niniii iK-ement  of  the  intention  to  deport,  but  suddenly 


(it;HMA\    WAR    PRACTICES.  55 

about  ten  days  ago  certain  men  in  towns  whose  names  are  on  the 
list  of  chomeurs  received  summons  notifying  them  to  report  at  one 
of  the  railway  stations  on  a  given  day;  penalties  were  fixed  for  failure 
to  respond  to  the  summons  and  there  was  printed  on  the  card  an 
offer  of  employment  by  the  German  Government  either  in  Germany 
or  Belgium.  On  the  first  day  out  of  about  1,500  men  ordered  to 
present  themselves  at  the  Gare  du  Midi  about  750  responded. 
These  were  examined  by  German  physicians  and  300  were  taken. 
There  was  no  disorder,  a  large  force  of  mounted  Uhlans  keeping 
back  the  crowds  and  barring  access  to  the  station  to  all  but  those 
who  had  been  summoned  to  appear.  The  Commission  for  Relief 
in  Belgium  had  secured  permission  to  give  to  each  deported  man 
a  loaf  of  bread,  and  some  of  the  communes  provided  warm  clothing 
for  those  ivho  had  none  and  in  addition  a  small  financial  allowance. 
As  by  one  of  the  ironies  of  life  the  winter  has  been  more  excessively 
cold  than  Belgium  has  ever  known  it,  and  while  many  of  those  who 
presented  themselves  were  adequately  protected  against  the  cold, 
many  of  them  were  without  overcoats.  The  men  shivering  from 

cold  and  fear,  the  parting  from  iveeping  wives 
Pitiable  scenes,  and  children,  the  barriers  of  brutal  Uhlans,  all 

this  made  the  scene  a  pitiable  and  distressing  one. 
"It  was  understood  that  the  seizures  ivould  continue  here  in 
Brussels,  but  on  Thursday  last,  a  bitter  cold  day,  those  that  had 
been  convoked  were  sent  home  without  examination.  It  is  supposed 
that  the  severe  weather  has  moved  the  Germans  to  postpone  the 
deportations."  (Continued  on  page  67.) 

Cardinal  Mercier  attempted  to  persuade  the  German  au- 
thorities to  abandon  their  terrible  plans,  reminding  them  of 
their  solemn  promises  in  the  past: 

"M ALINES,  19th  October,  1916. 
"Mr.  GOVERNOR  GENERAL: 

"The  day   after  the  surrender   of  Antwerp   the   frightened 

population  asked  itself  what  would  become  of 
"^  U  Oftph  G  "  e  Belgians  °f  age  to  bear  arms  or  who  would 

reach  that  age  before  the  end  of  the  occupation. 
The  entreaties  of  the  fathers  and  mothers  of  families  determined 
me  to  question  the  governor  of  Antwerp,  Baron  von  Huene, 
who  had  the  kindness  to  reassure  me  and  to  authorize  me  in 
his  name  to  reassure  the  agonized  parents.  The  rumor  had 
spread  at  Antwerp,  nevertheless,  that  at  Liege,  Namur,  and 
Charleroi  young  men  had  been  seized  and  taken  by  force  to 
Germany,  f  therefore  begged  Governor  von  Huene  to  be  good 
enough  to  confirm  to  me  in  writing  the  guarantee  which  he  had 
given  to  me  orally,  to  the  effect  that  nothing  similar  would 
happen  at  Antwerp.  He  said  to  me  immediately  that  the  rumors 
concerning  deportations  were  without  basis,  and  unhesitatingly 


56  GERMAN   WAR    PRACTICES. 

he  sent  me  in  writing,  among  other  statements,  the  following: 
'Young  men  have  no  reason  to  fear  that,  they  will  be  taken  to 
Germany,  either  to  be  there  enrolled  in  the  army  or  employed 
for  forced  labor.' 

"This  declaration,  written  and  signed,  was  publicly  trans- 
mitted to  the  clergy  and  to  those  of  the  Faith  of  the  province 
of  Antwerp,  as  Your  Excellency  can  see  from  the  document, 
enclosed  herewith,  dated  October  16th,  1914,  which  was  read 
in  all  the  churches.  [Printed  on  preceding  pages.] 

"Upon  the  arrival  of  your  predecessor,  the  late  Baron  von 
der  Goltz,  at  Brussels  I  had  the  honor  of  presenting  myself 
at  his  house  and  requested  him  to  be  good  enough  to  ratify 
for  the  entire  country,  without  time  limit,  the  guarantees  which 
General  von  Huene  had  given  me  for  the  province  of  Antwerp. 
The  Governor  General  retained  this  request  in  his  possession 
in  order  to  examine  it  at  his  leisure.  The  following  day  he 
was  good  enough  to  come  in  person  to  Malines  to  bring  me  his 
approval,  and  confirmed  to  me,  in  the  presence  of  two  aides-de- 
camp  and  of  my  private  secretary,  the  promise  that  the  liberty 
of  Belgian  citizens  would  be  respected. 

"To  doubt  the  authority  of  such  undertakings  would  have 
been  to  reflect  upon  the  persons  who  had  made  them,  and  I 
therefore  took  steps  to  allay,  by  all  the  means  of  persuasion 
in  my  power,  the  anxieties  which  persisted  in  the  interested 
families. 

"Notwithstanding  all  this,  your  Government  now  tears  from 
their  homes  workmen  reduced  in  spite  of  their  efforts  to  a  state 
of  unemployment,  separates  them  by  force  from  their  wives  and 
children  and  deports  them  to  enemy  territory.  Numerous 
workmen  have  already  undergone  this  unhappy  lot;  more  numer- 
ous are  those  who  are  threatened  with  the  same  acts  of  violence. 

"In  the  name  of  the  liberty  of  domicile  and  the  liberty  of 
work  of  Belgian  citizens;  in  the  name  of  the 

Meraer'smov-  inviolability  of  families;  in  the  name  of  moral 
interests  which  the  measures  of  deportation 
would  gravely  compromise;  in  the  name  of  the  word  given  by 
the  Governor  of  the  Province  of  Antwerp  and  by  the  Governor 
General,  the  immediate  representative  of  the  highest  authority 
of  the  German  Empire,  I  respectfully  beg  Your  Excellency  to 
be  good  enough  to  withdraw  the  measures  of  forced  labor  and  of 
deportation  announced  to  the  Belgian  workmen,  and  to  be  good 
enough  to  reinstate  in  their  homes  those  who  have  already  been 
( leported . 

"Your  Excellency  will  appreciate  how  painful  for  me  would 
be  the  weight  of  the  responsibility  that  I  wrould  have  to  bear 
as  regards  these  families,  if  the  confidence  which  they  have 
given  you  through  my  agency  and  at  my  request. were  lamentably 
deceived. 


GERMAN    WAR   PRACTICES.  57 

"I  persist  in  believing  that  this  will  not  be  the  case. 
"Accept,  Mr.  Governor  General,  th?  assurance  of  my  very 
high  consideration. 

"D.  J.  CARDINAL  MERCIER, 

"Arch,  of  Malines." 


Municipal  governments  in  Belgium  appealed  to  the  German 
authorities  to  observe  their  "solemn  promises.  The  two  docu- 
ments which  follow  illustrate  Belgian  appeals  and  German 
answers. 


RESOLUTION  OF  THE  MUNICIPAL  COUNCIL  OF  TOURNAI, 
OCTOBER   20,    1916. 

"In  the  matter  of  the  requisition  made  by  the  German  authori- 
ties on  October  20,  1916  (requisition  of  a  list  of  workmen  to  be 
drawn  up  by  the  municipality)  *  *  * 

"The  municipal  council  resolves  to  maintain  its  attitude  of 
refusal. 

"It  further  feels  it  its  duty  to  place  on  record  the  following: 

"The  city  of  Tournai  is  prepared  to  submit  unreservedly  to 
all  the  exigencies  authorised  by  the  laws  and  customs  of  war. 
Its  sincerity  can  not  be  questioned.  For  more  than  two  years 
it  has  submitted  to  the  German  occupation,  during  which  time 
it  has  lodged  and  lived  at  close  quarters  with  the  German  troops , 
yet  it  has  displayed  perfect  composure  and  has  refrained  from 
any  act  of  hostility,  proving  thereby  that  it  is  animated  by  no 
idle  spirit  of  bravado. 

"But  the  city  could  not  bring  itself  to  provide  arms  for  use 
against  its  own  children,  knowing  well  that  nat- 

C  o u n c  1 1  of  ural  j  and  the  j  of  nations  (which  is  the 
1  ournai  refuses  .  .  ,,  i  ,  i  /•  i  •  i  v_ 

immoral  and  ille-    expression    of    natural    law)    both    forbid    such 
gal  demands.          action. 

"In  his  declaration  dated  September  2,  1914, 
the  German  Governor  General  of  Belgium  declared:  'I  ask  none 
to  renounce  his  patriotic  sentiments.' 

"The  city  of  Tournai  reposes  confidence  in  this  declaration, 
which  it  is  bound  to  consider  as  the  sentiment  of  the  German 
Emperor,  in  whose  name  the  Governor  General  was  speaking. 
In  accepting  the  inspiration  of  honor  and  patriotism,  the  city  is 
loyal  to  a  fundamental  duty,  the  loftiness  of  which  must  be 
apparent  to  any  German  officer. 

"The  city  is  confident  that  the  straightforwardness  and  clear- 
ness of  this  attitude  will  prevent  any  misunderstanding  arising 
between  itself  and  the  German  Armv." 


58  GERMAN    WAR    PRACTICES. 

GERMAN      REPLY      TO      THE      RESOLUTION      OF      THE      MUNICIPAL 
COUNCIL    OF    TOURNAI. 

"TOURNAI,  23rd  October,  1916. 

"In  permitting  itself,  through  the  medium  of  municipal 
resolutions ,  to  oppose  the  orders  of  the  German 
lectufeTand  militaiT  authorities  in  the  occupied  territory, 
fined.  the  city  is  guilty  of  an  unexampled  arrogance 

and  of  a  complete  misunderstanding  of  the  situa- 
tion created  by  the  state  of  war. 

"The  'clear  and  simple  situation'  is  in  reality  the  following: 

"The  military  authorities  order  the  city  to  obey.  Otherwise 
the  city  must  bear  the  heavy  consequences,  as  I  have  pointed 
out  in  my  previous  explanations. 

"The  General  Commanding  the  Army  has  inflicted  on  the  city 
— on  account  of  .its  refusal,  up  to  date,  to  furnish  the  lists  de- 
manded—a punitive  contribution  of  200,000  marks,  which  must 
be  paid  within  the  next  six  days,  beginning  with  to-day.  The 
General  also  adds  that  until  such  time  as  all  the  lists  demanded 
are  in  his  hands,  for  every  day  in  arrears,  beginning  with  De- 
cember 31,  1916,  a  sum  of  20,000  marks  will  be  paid  by  .the  city. 

"HOPFER,  Major  General, 

"Etappe  n-Komm  andant . ' ' 


The  Commission  Syndicate  of  Belgian  workingmen  also  at- 
tempted to  induce  the  German  authorities  to  abandon  their 
terrible  plans. 

"COMMISSION  SYXDICALE  OF  BELGIUM, 

"Brussels,  30th  Oct.,  1916. 
[To  the  GOVERNOR  GENERAL  OF  BELGIUM.] 

"  EXCELLENCY:  The  measures  which  are  being  planned  by  your 
administration  to  force  the  unemployed  to  work  for  the  invading 
power,  the  deportation  of  our  unhappy  comrades  which  has 
begun  in  the  region  of  the  etapes,  move  most  profoundly  the 
entire  working  class  in  Belgium. 

"The  undersigned,  members  and  representatives  of  the  great 
central  socialist  and  independent  syndicates  of  Belgium,  would 
consider  that  they  had  not  fulfilled  their  duty  did  they  not  ex- 
press to  you  the  painful  sentiments  which  agitate  the  laborers  and 
convey  to  you  the  echo  of  their  touching  complaints. 

"They  have  seen  the  machinery  taken  from  their  factories, 
the  most  diverse  kind  of  raw.materials  requisitioned,  the  accumu- 
lation of  obstacles  to  prevent  the  resumption  of  regular  work,  the 
disappearance  one  by  one  of  every  public  liberty  of  which  they 
were  proud. 


GERMAN    WAR   PRACTICES.  59 

"For  more  than  two  years  the  laboring  class  more  than  any 

other  has  been  forced  to  undergo  the  most  bitter 

trials,   experiencing  misery  and  often  hunger, 

at  German  hands?    while  its  children  far  away  fight  and  die,  and 

the  parents  of  these  children  can  never  convey 

to  them  the  affection  with  which  their  hearts  are  overflowing. 

"Our  laboring  class  has  endured  everything  with  the  utmost 

calm  and  the  most  impressive  dignity,  repressing  its  sufferings, 

its  complaints  and  heavy  trials,  sacrificing  everything  to  its 

ideal  of  liberty  and  independence.     But  the  measures  which 

have  been  announced  will  make  the  population  drain  the  dregs 

[of  the  cup]  of  human  sorrow;  the  proletariat,  the  poor  upon  whom 

unemployment  has  been  forced,  citizens  of  a  modern  state,  are  to 

l)e  condemned  to  forced  labor  without  having  disobeyed  any 

regulation  or  order. 

''In  the  name  of  the  families  of  workmen  among  which,  the 
most  painful  anxiety  reigns  at  present,  whose  mothers,  whose 
fiancees,  and  whose  little  children  are  destined 
And  appeal  for    to  snec|  go  manv  mOre  tears,  we  beg  Your  Ex- 
decent  treatment,       i,  i-i  ,.  ,,  . 
cellency  to  prevent  the  accomplishment  of  this 

painful  act,  contrary  to  international  law,  contrary  to  the  dignity 
of  the  working  classes,  contraiy  to  everything  which  makes  for 
worth  and  greatness  in  human  nature. 

"We  beg  Your  Excellency  to  pardon  our  emotion  and  we  offer 
you  the  homage  of  our  distinguished  consideration. 

"(Appended  a-re  signatures  of  members  of  the  National  Com- 
mittee and  the  Commission  Syndicate.)" 

Von  Bissing  in  his  reply,  November  3rd,  practically  admitted 
the  truth  of  the  complaint  by  attempting  to  justify  the  measures 
protested  against.  The  arguments  which  he  used  are  taken  up 
and  refuted  in  the  letter  of  the  Commission  Syndicale,  November 
14,  which  follows: 

"COMMISSION  SYNDICALE  OF  BELGIUM, 

"Brussels,  14th  Nov.,  1916. 
"To  His  Excellency  BARON  VON  BISSING, 

"Governor  General  in  Belgium. 

"EXCELLENCY:  The  Secretaries  and  representatives  of  the 
socialistic  and  independent  labor  Unions  of  Belgium  have;  with 
a  painful  disappointment,  taken  cognizance  of  the  answer  which 
you  were  good  enough  to  make  to  their  petition  of  October  30th, 
concerning  the  deportation  of  laborers  to  Germany,  and  it  is 
in  the  name  of  the  working  classes  as  a  united  whole  that  we 
are  making  a  final  effort  to  prevent  the  consummation  of  an  act . 
without  precedent,  directed  against  its  liberty,  its  sentiments, 
and  its  dignity. 


60  GEKMAN    WAK   PRACTICES. 

"You  say  that  many  industrial  works  have  been  closed  on 
account  of  the  lack  of  raw  materials  brought 

fute       BfesinlK    about  by  the  blockade  b>r  the  enemy.     Permit 
arguments.  us;  Excellency,  to  remind  you  that  the  allied 

powers  manifested  very  clearly  their  intention 
to  permit  the  importation  into  Belgium  of  raw  materials  required 
by  our  industries,  provided,  with  a  very  natural  provision,  that 
no  requisitions  should  be  made,  except  those  mentioned  in 
Article  52  of  the  Hague  Convention,  that  is  to  say  those  necessary 
to  the  'occupying  army/  and  that  an  international  commission, 
the  Commission  for  Relief  in  Belgium,  should  have  the  right  to 
supervise  the  destination  of  the  manufactured  products. 

"Instead  of  agreeing  to  such  a  proposal,  we  have  seen  the 
occupying  authorities  systematical^  remove  the  machinery, 
implements,  machines  of  all  kinds,  the  engines  and  raw  ma- 
terials, metals,  leather,  and  wool,  limit  production,  aggravate 
continually  the  difficulties  of  transactions.  When  communes 
or  committees  have  desired  to  employ  workmen  without  em- 
ployment on  works  of  public  utility,  obstacles  have  been  thrown 
in  their  way  and  finally  in  many  cases  their  undertakings  have 
been  stopped  and  broken.  In  a  word,  as  fast  as  the  most 
tireless  efforts  were  strained  to  employ  as  many  hands  as  possible, 
other  men  were  constantly  thrown  out  of  wor,k. 

"You  state  also  that  unemployment  is  caused  by  the  la- 
borers' hostility  to  work.     The  whole  past  of 
And      proudly    our  workmg  class  protests  against  this  accusa- 
praise    the    Bel-     ,.  u-j.     r 

gian  workman.  ^lon  W1th  every  bit  01  energy  that  still  remains 
in  them.  Where  is  there  to  be  found  in  the 
whole  world  a  working  'class  which  has  made  of  such  a  small 
country  such  a  great  industrial  and  commercial  power?  And 
we,  who  for  the  last  25  years  have  been  the  enthusiastic  witnesses 
of  the  magnificent  efforts  of  our  brother  workmen,  in  the  matter 
of  their  material  and  moral  betterment,  we  proudly  affirm  that 
it  is  not  among  their  ranks  that  one  can  find  men  so  degraded 
as  to  prefer  to  receive  a  charitable  assistance  which  barely  fur- 
nishes them  with  sufficient  food  to  an  honest  wage  given  in  re- 
muneration for  free  and  fruitful  work. 

"What  is  true,  however,  is  that  the  Belgian  workmen,  con- 
forming to  the  same  article  52  of  the  Hague  Convention  which 
only  admits  requisitions  of  labor  'for  the  needs  of  the  army  of 
occupation  and  in  case  these  requisitions  do  not  imply  an  obliga- 
tion to  take  part  in  the  war  against  their  country/  have  refused 
the  most  tempting  offers,  not  wishing  to  build  trenches  nor  to 
repair  forts  nor  to  work  in  factories  which  manufacture  war 
materials.  This  was  their  right  and  their  duty.  Their  attitude 
deserved  respect  and  not  the  most  humiliating  of  punishments. 

"You  refer  to  your  decrees  of  August  15th,  1915,  and  of  May 


GERMAN    WAR   PRACTICES.  61 

15th,  1916,  in  which  are  mentioned  the  possible  punishment 
of  any  workmen  who  receive  support  and  refuse  work  suited 
to  their  capacities  and  carrying  with  it  a  proper  wage.  Those 
who  know  with  what  care  and  with  what  minute  detail  the  con- 
ditions, under  which  the  unemployed  have  the  right  to  receive 
assistance,  have  been  established  might  perhaps  think  that  these 
menaces  were,  to  say  the  least,  useless.  But  as  you  yourself 
say,  these  decrees  declare  in  their  article  2  that  every  motive 
of  refusal  to  work  will  be  considered  valid  if  it  is  admitted  by 
international  law. 

"For  these  cases  of  refusal,  the  German  Authorities  reserved 
the  right  to  cause  these  recalcitrants  to  appear  before  Belgian 
tribunals  and  later  before  German  military  tribunals.  It  is 
therefore  certain  that  the  unemployed  have  the  right  to  refuse 
to  work  for  any  motive  approved  by  international  law.  When 
summoned  before  the  tribunal  they  have  the  right  to  employ 
counsel  in  their  defense  and  to  state  clearly  their  reasons  for 
refusal.  One  might,  of  course,  say  that  it  is  not  a  question 
obliging  the  workmen  to  participate  in  military  enterprise; 
but  it  is  only  too  evident  that  every  Belgian 
*i,i!r: !£r?£s  r~e  deported  to  Germany  will  take  the  place  there 

t!irOu.£il  1116  vjcr—          n  i  .«  .     „ 

man  scheme.          °*  a  man  who  to-morrow  will  go  to  reinforce 
the   ranks   of  the  enemy.     We  should  like  to 
know,  Excellency,  whether  these  tribunals  carry  on  their  func- 
tions. 

"You  fear  that  continued  unemployment  may  depreciate 
the  physical  and  moral  status  of  the  workmen.  We,  who 
know  them,  have  more  confidence  in  them.  We  have  seen 
them  suffer  with  a  stoicism  which  exists  only  in  proud  and 
high  souls.  Did  not  the  splendid  idea  come  from  them,  of 
organizing  throughout  the  entire  country  a  vast  chain  of  edu- 
cational work  for  the  unemployed  in  order  to  develop  their 
technical  knowledge  and  to  increase  their  professional  value? 
The  Comite  National  was  not,  alas,  authorized  to  undertake 
this  magnificent  enterprise.  Is  it  the  idea  that  it  is  through 
forced  labor,  performed  with  black  despair,  like  slaves,  that 
our  unhappy  brothers  will  'keep  up  their  physical  and  moral 
energy? 

"You  fear  also  that  'the  assistance  which  they  receive  will 

at  length   weigh   down  Belgian  economic  life.' 

The   Germans    We  can  with  difficulty  believe  that  Belgians, 

JSrabouSem-  as  >'ou  sa^'  have  had  the  smallness  of  soul  to 
ployment  of  Bel-  grudge  in  that  form  the  bitter  piece  of  bread 
g'ians.  and  the  little  soup  which  have  formed  the  food 

of  so  many  working  families  for  so  many  months; 
and  what,  after  all,  do  the  twelve  million  francs  amount  to  that 
are  distributed  each  month  to  from  500,000  to  600,000  unem- 


62  GERMAN    WAR   PRACTICES. 

ploj^ed,  in  comparison  with  the  destruction,  beyond  reckoning, 
of  goods  and  lives  which  the  horrors  of  a  war  in  which  it  has 
not  the  slightest  responsibility  have  cost  and  still  cost  our 
country?  With  the  most  unshakable  faith  in  our  destinies; 
we,  the  most  nearly  interested,  know  that  in  the  near  future 
Flanders  and  Watlonie  will  rise  again,  glorious,  in  history. 
"Excellency,;  our  heart  and  our  reason  refuse,  then,  to  believe 

that  it  is  for  the  good  of  our  class  and  to  avoid 
understand  thl  {U1  additional  calamity  to  our  country,  that 
German  scheme,  thousands  of  workers  are  suddenly  torn  from 

their  families  and  transported  to  Germany. 
Public  sentiment  has  not  been  deceived  and  in  reply  to  the 
grievous  complaints  of  the  victims,  there  echo  the  indignant 
protests  of  the  entire  population,  as  expressed  by  its  representa- 
tives,  its  communal  magistrates,  and  those  persons  who  con- 
stitute the  highest  incarnation  of  law  in  our  country. 

"Furthermore,  the  arbitrary  and  brutal  manner  employed 
in  the  execution  of  these  sad  measures  has  raised  all  kinds  of 
doubts  regarding  the  object  in  view:  the  need,  above  all,  is  to 
obtain  workmen  in  Germany,  for  Germany's  profit,  and  for  the 
success  of  its  arms. 

"While  at  Antwerp  they  did  not  take  any  young  men  from  17 
to  31  years  who  were  under  the  regime  of  control,  in  the  Borinage 
they  call  all  the  men  from  17  to  50  years  of  age;  in  Walloon 
Brabant  all  men  over  17  years,  without  making  any  distinction 
between  the  employed  and  unemployed.  Men  of  all  professions 
and  of  all  conditions  have  been  taken — bakers,  who  have  never 
ceased  to  work  in  our  co-operatives  of  the  Borinage,  for  example; 
mechanics,  who  always  had  employment;  agricultural  workmen, 
merchants  *  *  *  At  Lessines  on  the  6th  instant,  2,100 
persons  were  taken  away,  all  workmen  up  to  50  years  of  age. 
Several  cases  are  cited  where  old  men  with  five  or  six  of  their 
sons  have  been  exiled  thus  by  force. 

"Distressing    scenes  occur  eve^where.     The  unhappy  ones 

gathered    together    in    the    public    squares    are 
The  tears  of  the    rapidly    divided   into   gangs.     They   had    been 
mothers  and  the  ,J  •,  ,  11  xrv 

children.  directed  to  bring  a  small  amount  ot   baggage; 

they  are  taken  at  once  to  the  railway  station 
and  loaded  in  cattle  cars.  They  are  not  allowed  to  say  good-bye 
to  their  families.  No  opportunity  is  given  to  them  to  put  their 
affairs  in  order,  even  the  most  pressing  ones.  They  do  not  know 
where  they  are  going,  nor  for  what  work,  nor  for  how  long. 
Taken  away  at  the  beginning  of  the  winter,  after  two  years  of 
privations,  having  no  further  resources  and  no  means  to  provide 
themselves  with  warm  clothing  or  with  other  indispensable 
articles,  what  privations  are  they  going  to  endure?  How  will 
they  live  there?  In  what  state  will  they  return?  This  mystery 
and  this  anxiety  are  the  cause  of  the  ceaseless  tears  of  the  mothers 


GERMAN    WAR    PRACTICES.  63 

> 

and  little  children.       Distress  and  despair  reign  in  the  homes. 

"Listen,  Excellency,  to  these  tears  and  these  sobs.  Do  not 
permit  our  past  of  liberty  and  independence  to  be  ruined.  Do 
not  permit  human  rights  to  be  violated  in  its  holy  of  holies.  Do 
not  permit  the  dignity  of  our  working  classes,  which  has  been 
acquired  after  so  many  centuries  of  effort,  to  be  trodden  under 
foot. 

"It  is  to  law  and  humanity  that  we  appeal,  solemnly  and  with 
the  hope  of  being  heard,  for  we  have  the  profound  conviction 
that  by  our  voice,  at  this  tragic  hour,  the  great  voice  of  the 
working  class  of  the  entire  civilized  world  expresses  its  sorrow 
and  its  protest. 

"Accept,  Excellency,  the  homage  of  our  most  distinguished 
consideration." 

(Here  follow  the  signatures  of  the  Members  of  the  Comite 
Nationale  and  of  the  Commission  Syndicate. ) 

"We  transmit  this  letter  and  previous  correspondence  to  the 
Ministers  and  representatives  of  Foreign  powers  at  Brussels, 
as  well  as  to  our  comrades  of  the  Commission  Syndicale  des 
Syndicate  in  Holland." 

The  files  of  the  State  Department  contain  authentic  copies 
of  very  many  such  moving  protests.  The  foregoing  ones 
are  taken  from  this  pathetic  collection,  and  from  it  may  be 
cited,  by  way  of  further  illustration,  some  passages  from  two 
others: 


I'KOTKST    OF    BELGIAN    MEMBERS    OF   PARLIAMENT. 

"BRUSSELS,  9th  November,  1916. 
"To  his  Excellency,  BARON  VON  BISSING, 

"Governor  General  in  Belgium. 

"EXCELLENCY:  It  seemed  that  no  suffering  could  be  added 

to   those   under   which  we  have  already   been 

latorsgrecitee^he    we^hed    down    since    the    occupation    of    our 

wrongs    of   Bel-    country.     Our  banished  liberty,  our  destroyed 

gium.  industry  and  commerce,  our  raw  products  and 

instruments  of  work  taken  out  of  the  country. 

the    public    fortune    ruined,     want    succeeding    to    wealth   in 

families  formerly  most   prosperous,    privations,  anxieties,   and 

mourning.     *     *     * 

"Is  there  need  to  relate  the  scenes  which  the  region  of  the 
etape  has  been  the  theater  of  for  several  weeks,  and  which  are 
now  being  reenacted,  during  the  past  days,  in  the  territory  of 
the  Government  General,  where  this  scourge  threatens  to  ex- 
tend from  commune  to  commune  until  its  victims  are  counted 


64  GERMAN    WAR    PRACTICKS. 

by  hundreds  of  thousands?     The  notices  posted  on  the  walls 
and  reproduced  in  the  papers  tell  sufficiently 
The  "summary    what  it  is.     Everywhere  the  same  procedure,  ' 
and     sorrowful"    summarv  an(j  sorrowful:  arrests  in  mass,  men 
procedure  of  me      -,       ^    •-.         ,.,       ., 
Germans.  classified    arbitrarily    among    the    unemployed, 

herded    together,    divided    into    groups,    sem 
toward  the  unknown.     *     *     * 

"The  authorities  prefer  to  give  them  work  in  Germany,  where 
the  representatives  of  the  [German]  Industrial  Bureau  promise 
them  'good  wages/  if  they  consent  to  work  there  'voluntarily,1 
and  where  they  may  expect,  in  case  of  refusal,  famine  wages. 
\Vhat  physical  and  moral  depression  is  counted  on  in  order  to 
force  their  hand? 

"True,  it  has  been  asserted  that  the  work  which  is  offered  to 
them   will   be  nomnilitary   in   character;      but 

Everyone  voices  have  replied  on  every  side:  'in  taking 
knows  what  Ger-  th  pl  of  a  German  workman,  the  Belgian 
many  wants  Bel-  £.  .,  ,-, 

gian  workers  for.  workman  permits  Germany  to  increase  the 
numerical  forces  of  its  armies.'  The  most 
odious  work  is  that  whose  results  are  used  against  the  fatherland. 
To  serve  Germany  is  to  fight  against  their  own  count ry.  To 
compel  our  workmen  to  do  this  is  nothing  else  than  an  act  of 
force  contrary  to  international  law  (referred  to  by  Your  Excellency 
in  your  proclamation  of  August  15th,  1915),  and  contrary  also 
to  the  spirit,  if  not  to  the  text,  of  the  Fourth  Convention  of  the 
Hague  of  1907.  *  *  * 

"They  adjure  Your  Excellency  to  employ  with  the  military 
authorities  the  high  prerogatives  which  are  yours  from  3^0111- 
position  to  prevent  the  consummation  of  an  act  without  precedent 
in  the  history  of  modern  wars,  and  they  beg  you  to  accept  the  as- 
surance of  their  most  distinguished  consideration." 

[Signatures  of  Belgian  Senators  and  Deputies.] 

PROTEST  OF  CARDINAL  MERCIER. 

"ARCHBISHOPRIC  OF  MALINES, 

"M alines,  10th  November,  1916. 
"Mr.  GOVERNOR  GENERAL: 

"I  refrain  from  expressing  to  Your  Excellency  the  sentiment.-, 
which  have  been  evoked  in  me  by  your  letter  of  reply  to  the  letter 
which  I  had  the  honor  to  address  to  you  on  October  19th, 
relative  to  the  deportation  of  the  unemployed. 

"I   have   recalled   with   melancholy   the   words   which   Your 
Excellency,    dwelling   upon   each   syllable,    pro- 
German  perfidy,  nounced  in  my  presence,  after  your  arrival  at 
Brussels:   'I  hope  that  our  relations  will  be  loyal 
*     *     *     I  have  received  the  mission  of  dressing  the  wounds  of 
Belgium/ 


GERMAN    WAR   PRACTICES.  65 

"My  letter  of  October  19th  recalled  to  Your  Excellency  the 
engagement  taken  by  Baron  von  Huene,  military  governor  of 
Antwerp,  and  ratified  a  few  days  later  by  Baron  von  der  Goltz, 
your  predecessor  as  Governor  General  at  Brussels.  The  engage- 
ment was  explicit,  absolute,  unlimited  as  to  time:  'The  young 
men  need  not  fear  being  taken  to  Germany,  either  to  be  enrolled 
in  the  army  or  to  be  employed  at  forced  labor.' 

"This  engagement  is  being  violated  every  day — thousands  of 
times  in  the  last  fortnight. 

"Baron  von  Huene  and  the  late  Baron  von  der  Goltz  did  not 
say  conditionally,  as  your  despatch  of  the  26th  of  October  would 
seek  to  imply:  'If  the  occupation  does  not  last  longer  than  two 
years  men  fit  for  military  duty  shall  not  be  taken  into  captivity;' 
they  said  categorically:  'Young  men,  and  with  greater  reason, 
men  who  have  reached  an  advanced  age,  shall  not  at  any  moment 
of  the  occupation,  either  be  made  prisoners  or  employed  at  forced 
labor.'  *  *  * 

"The  decrees,  posters,  and  comments  of  the  press,  which  were 
intended  to  prepare  public  opinion  for  the  measures  now  being 
taken,  pleaded  especially  two  considerations:  The  unemployed, 
so  they  declared,  are  a  danger  to  public  security;  they  are  a 
charge  upon  governmental  charity. 

"It  is  not  true,  I  said  in  my  letter  of  October  19th,  that  our 
workmen  have  troubled,  or  even  anywhere 

The  Belgians  threatened  the  public  peace.  Five  million 
it^frwn^the'oer-  Belgians  an^  hundreds  of  Americans  are  the 
mans!111  astonished  witnesses  of  the  dignity  and  the 

flawless  patience  of  our  working  class.  It  is 
not  true  that  the  workmen  deprived  of  work  are  a  charge  upon 
the  occupying  power  for  the  charity  which  is  dispensed  by  their 
administration.  The  Comite  National,  in  which  the  occupying 
government  has  no  active  part,  is  the  sole  purveyor  of  subsistence 
to  the  victims  of  enforced  idleness.  *  *  * 

"Each  Belgian  workman  will  liberate  a  German  workman 
who  will  add  one  more  soldier  to  the  German 

The  German  army.  There,  in  all  its  simplicity,  Is  -the  fact 
Pitns  wSlS  afnst  which  dominates  the  situation.  The  author 
their  ow^coun-  °^  ^ne  letter  himself  feels  this  burning  fact,  for 
try.  he  writes:  'nor  is  the  measure  one  whicli  affects 

the  conduct  of  war  properly  speaking  (proprement 
dite}.  It  is,  then,  connected  with  the  war  improperly  speaking 
(improprement  dite^};  which  can  only  mean  that  the  Belgian 
workman,  although  he  does  not  bear  arms,  will  free  the  hands  of 
a  German  workman  who  will  take  up  the  arms.  The  Belgian 
workman  is  forced  to  co-operate,  in  an  indirect  but  evident 
manner,  in  the  war  against  his  country.  This  is  manifestly 
contrary  to  the  spirit  of  the  Hague  Conventions. 

"Here  is  another  statement:   unemployment  is  not  caused  either 


w>  GEKMAM    V\AK   1'ilAt  lit  K> 

by  the  Belgian  workman  or  by  England;   it  is  brought  about  by  the 
regime  of  the  German  Occupation . 

"The  occupying  government  has  seized  considerable  supplies 
of  raw  material  intended  for  our  national  industry;  it  has  seized 
and  shipped  to  Germany  the  machinery,  tools,  and  metals  of 
our  factories  and  our  workshops.  The  possibility  of  national 
labor  being  thus  suppressed,  there  remained  one  alternative  to 
the  workman:  to  work  for  the  German  Empire,  either  here  or 
in  Germany-  or  to  remain  idle.  Some  thousands  of  workmen, 
under  the  pressure  of  fright  or  of  hunger,  accepted,  with  regret 
for  the  most  part,  work  for  the  enemy;  but  four  hundred  thousand 
workmen  and  workwomen  preferred  to  resign  themselves  to 
unemployment, with  its  privations,  rather  than  injure  the  interests 
of  the  fatherland;  they  lived  in  poverty,  with  the  aid  of  a  meager 
relief  allowed  them  by  the  Comite  national  de  secours  et  d'  alimen- 
tation, under  the  supervision  of  the  protecting  ministers  of  Spain, 
America,  and  Holland.  Calm,  dignified,  they  bore  without  a 
murmur  their  painful  lot.  In  no  part  of  the  country  was  there  a 
revolt  or  even  the  semblance  of  one.  Employers 
No  disorder  is  an(j  emplOyees  awaited  with  patience  the  end  of 
caused  by  Bel-  ,  -,.,  ,, 

gians.  our  long  martyrdom.     Meanwhile,  the  commu- 

nal administrations  and  private  initiative  en- 
deavored to  alleviate  the  undoubted  inconveniences  of  unemploy- 
ment. But  the  occupying  power  paralyzed  their  efforts.  The 
Comite  National  attempted  to  organize  a  professional  school  for 
the  use  of  the  unemployed.  This  practical  instruction,  respectful 
of. the  dignity  of  our  workmen,  was  meant  to  keep  up  their  skill. 
increase  their  capacity  for  work,  and  prepare  for  the  restoration 
of  the  country.  Who  opposed  this  noble  movement,  the  plan 
of  which  had  been  elaborated  by  our  large  manufacturers?  Who? 
The  occupying  government. 

"Notwithstanding  all  this,  the  communes  made  every  effort 

to  give  work  to  the  unemployed  upon  under- 

Communesnot    takings    of   public   utility;      but   the   governor 

allowed  to  furnish    generai    made   these    enterprises  depend    upon 

work  for  unem-  ..  ,.,  111          *        j 

ployed.  permission  which,  as  a  general  rule,  he  refused. 

There  are  numerous  cases,  I  am  assured,  where 
the  General  Government  authorized  undertakings  of  this  kind 
upon  the  express  condition  that  they  should  not  be  undertaken 
by  unemployed. 

"They  were  seeking  to  create  unemployment.      They  were 
recruiting  the  army  of  the  unemployed.     *     *     * 

"The  letter  of  October  26th  says  that  the  first  responsibility 

for  the  unemployment  of  our  workmen  rests  upon  England, 

because  she  has  not  allowed  raw  materials  to  enter  Belgium. 

"England  generously  allows  foodstuffs  to  enter  Belgium  for 

the   revictualling    [of   the    country],    under   the 

England  not  to    controi    of   neutral   States— Spain,    the    United 

States,    and    Holland.     She    would    allow    raw 


GERMAN    WAR    PRACTICES.  67 

materials  necessary  for  industry  to  enter  the  country  under  the 
same  control  if  Germany  were  willing  to  agree  to  leave  them  to 
us,  and  not  to  seize  the  finished  products  of  our  industrial  work. 
"But  Germany,  by  various  proceedings,  notably  by  the  organi- 
zation of  its  Centrales,  over  which  neither  the 
„  **®3  Belgians  nor  our  protecting  ministers  can  exercise 

flicte  privations.  anv  efficacious  control,  absorbs  a  considerable 
portion  of  the  products  of  agriculture  and  of  the 
industry  of  our  country.  The  result  is  a  considerable  increase 
in  the  cost  of  living,  which  causes  painful  privations  for  those 
who  have  no  savings.  *  *  * 

"Deportation  is  slavery,  and  the  heaviest  penalty  of  the  penal 
code  after  that  of  death.     Has  Belgium,  who 
Deportation  is    never  j^  yOU  any  wrOng,  deserved  at  your  hands 
this  treatment  which  cries  to  heaven  for  ven- 
geance? 

"Mr.  Governor  General,  in  the  beginning  of  my  letter  1  recalled 
the  noble  words  of  Your  Excellency:  'I  have  come  into  Belgium 
with  the  mission  of  dressing  the  wounds  of  your  country.' 

"If  Your  Excellency  could  penetrate  into  the  homes  of  working- 
men,  as  we  priests  do,  and  hear  the  lamentations  of  wives  and 
mothers  whom  your  orders  cast  into  mourning  and  into  dismaj', 
you  would  realize  far  better  that  the  wound  of  the  Belgian 
people  is  gaping. 

"Two  years  ago,  we  hear  people  say,  it  was  death,  pillage, 

fires,  but  it  was  war!     To-day  it  is  no  longer  war, 

tion°of  Germans"    ^  *s   co^  calculation,   intentional   destruction, 

the  victory  of  force  over  right,  the  debasement 

of  human  personality,  a  cry  of  defiance  to  humanity. 

"It  depends  upon  you,  Excellency,  to  silence  these  cries  of  a 
revolted  conscience;  may  the  good  God,  whom  we  call  upon  with 
all  the  ardor  of  our  soul  for  our  oppressed  people,  inspire  you  with 
the  pity  of  the  good  Samaritan! 

"Accept,  Mr.  Governor  General,  the  homage  of  my  highest 
consideration. 

"D.  J.  CARD.  MERCIER, 

"Arch,  of  M  alines" 

In  less  moving  phrases,  but  in  deadly  corroboration;  the  con- 
tinuation of  the  report  of  Minister  Whitlock  says: 

REPORT  OF   MINISTER   WHITLOCK    (continued). 

"The  rage,  the  terror,  and  despair  excited  by  this  measure  all  over 
Belgium  were  beyond  anything  we  had  witnessed  since  the  day  the 
Germans  poured  into  Brussels.  The  delegates  of  the  Commission 
for  Relief  in  Belgium,  returning  to  Brussels,  told  the  most  distressing 


\V\ii    l'UA(   1U  K>. 

stories  of  the  scenes  of  cruelty  and  sorrow  attending  the  seizures. 

And  daily,  hourly  almost,  since  that  time  appalling 

A  p  palling    siories  nave  been  related  by  Belqians  cominq  to  the 

stones    of    Ger-     T        ,.  T     .     .  •/;    r  •*    *i 

man  behavior.       Legation.     It  is  impossible  for  us  to  verify  them, 

first,  because  it  is  necessary  for  us  to  exercise  all 
possible  tact  in  dealing  with  the  subject  at  all,  and  secondly  because 
there  is  no  means  of  communication  between  the  Occupations-Gcbiet 
and  the  Etappen-Gebiet.  Transportation  everywhere  in  Belgium 
is  difficult,  the  vicinal  railways  scarcely  operating  any  more  because 
of  the  lack  of  oil,  while  all  the  horses  have  been  taken.  The  people 
who  are  forced  to  go  from  one  village  to  another  must  do  so  on  foot 
or  in  vans  drawn  by  the  few  miserable  horses  that  are  left.  The 
wagons  of  the  breweries,  the  one  institution  that  the  Germans  have 
scrupulously  respected,  are  hauled  by  oxen. 

"The  well-known  tendency  of  sensational  reports  to  exaggerate 
themselves,  especially  in  time  of  war,  and  in  a  situation  like  that 
existing  here,  with  no  newspapers  to  serve  as  a  daily  clearing  house 
for  all  the  rumours  that  are  as  avidly  believed  as  they  are  eagerly 

repeated,  should  of  course  be  considered;   but  eren 

if  a  modicum  of  all  that  is  told  is  true  there  still 
A  foul  deed.       remains  enough  to  stamp  this  deed  as  one  of  the 

foulest  that  history  records. 

"I  am  constantly  in  receipt  of  reports  from  all  over  Belgium  that 
tend  to  bear  out  the  stories  one  constantly  hears  of  brutality  and 
cruelty.  A  number  of  men 'sent  back  to  Mons  are  said  to  be  in  a 
dying  condition,  many  of  them  tubercular.  At  M alines  and  at 
Antwerp  returned  men  have  died,  their  friends  asserting  that  they 
have  been  victims  of  neglect  and  cruelty,  of  cold,  of  exposure,  of 
hunger."  (Continued  on  page  74.) 

A  vivid  sketch  of  the  deportations  from  Mons,  drawn  by  a 
participant,  may  well  be  cited  here: 

"I  will  take  the  18th  of  November  of  last  year  [1916].     A  week 

,    or  so  before  that  a  placard  was  placed  on  the 
"The  woes  of  f   £T 

slavery."  walls  telling  my  capital  city  of  Mons  that  in 

seven  days  all  the  men  of  that  city  who  were 
not  clergymen,  who  were  not  priests,  who  did  not  belong  to  the 
city  council,  would  be  deported. 

"At  half  past  five,  in  the  gray  of  the  morning,  on  the  18th  of 
November,  they  walked  out,  six  thousand  two  hundred  men  at 
Mons,  myself  and  another  leading  them  down  the  cobblestones 
of  the  street  and  out  where  the  rioting  would  be  less  than  in  the 
great  city,  with  the  soldiers  on  each  side,  with  bayonets  fixed, 
with  the  women  held  back. 

"The  degradation  of  it!  The  degradation  of  it  as  they  walked 
into  this  great  market  square,  where  the  pens  were  erected, 
exactly  as  if  they  were  cattle — all  the  great  men  of  that  province 


GERMAN    WAR    PRACTICES.  69 

— the  lawyers,  the  statesmen,  the  heads  of  the  trades,  the  men 
that  had  made  the  capital  of  Hainaut  glorious  during  the  last 
twenty  years. 

"There  they  were  collected;    no  question  of  who  they  were 
whether  they  were  busy  or  what  they  were  doing,  or  what  their 
position  in  life.     'Go  to  the  right!    Go  to  the  left!    Go  to  the 
right!'     So  they  were  turned  to  the  one  side  or  the  other. 

"Trains  were  standing  there  ready,  steaming,  to  take  them  to 
Germany.  You  saw  on  the  one  side  the  one  brother  taken,  the 
other  brother  left.  A  hasty  embrace  and  they  were  separated 
and  gone.  You  had  here  a  man  on  his  knees  before  a  German 
officer,  pleading  and  begging  to  take  his  old  father's  place;  that 
was  all.  The  father  went  and  the  son  stayed.  They  were  packed 
in  those  trains  that  were  waiting  there. 

"You  saw  the  women  in  hundreds,  with  bundles  in  their  hands , 
beseeching  to  be  permitted  to  approach  the  trains,  to  give  their 
men  the  last  that  they  had  in  life  between  themselves  and  star- 
vation— a  small  bundle  of  clothing  to  keep  them  warm  on  their 
way  to  Germany.  You  saw  women  approach  with  a  bundle 
that  had  been  purchased  by  the  sale  of  the  last  of  their  household 
effects.  Not  one  was  allowed  to  approach  to  give  her  man  the 
warm  pair  of  stockings  or  the  warm  jacket,  so  there  might  be 
some  chance  of  his  reaching  there.  Off  they  went!"  John  H. 
Gade,  in  The  National  Geographic  Magazine,  May,  1917. 

The  Belgian  women  sent  a  touching  appeal  to  Minister  Whit- 
lock: 

THE  APPEAL  OF  THE  BELGIAN  WOMEN. 

"BRUSSELS, 

"November  18,  1916,  46  Rue  de  la  Madeleine. 
"His  Excellency  Mr.  BRAND  WHITLOCK, 

"Envoy  Extraordinary  and  Minister  Plenipo- 
tentiary of  the  United  States  of  America. 
"MR.  MINISTER: 

"From  the  depths  of  our  well  of  misery  our  supplication  rises 
to  you. 

"In  addressing  ourselves  to  you,  we  denounce  to  your  Govern- 
ment, as  well  as  to  our  sisters,  the  women  of  the  nation  which 
you  represent  in  our  midst,  the  criminal  abuse  of  force  of  which 
our  unhappy  and  defenseless  people  is  a  victim. 

"Since  the  beginning  of  this  atrocious  war  we  have  looked  on 
impotently  and  with  our  hearts  torn  with  even'-  sorrow  at  terrible 
events  which  put  our  civilization  back  into  the  ages  of  the 
barbarian  hordes. 

"Mr.  Minister,  the  crime  which  is  now  being  committed  under 

your  eyes,  namely,  the  deportation  of  thousands 

excuse  forddepor-    °^  men  comPe^e<^  to  work  on  enemy  soil  against 

tations.  the  interests  of  their  country,  can  not  find  any 

shadow  of  excuse  on  the    ground    of    military 


70  GERMAN   WAR   PRACTICES. 

necessity,  for  it  constitutes  a  violation  by  force  of  a  sacred  right 
of  human  conscience. 

_  "Whatever  may  be  the  motive  it  can  not  be  admitted  that 
citizens  may  be  compelled  to  work  directly  or  indirectly  for  the 
enemy  against  their  brothers  who  are  fighting. 

"The  Convention  of  The  Hague  has  consecrated  this  principle. 

"Nevertheless,  the  occupying  power  is  forcing  thousands  of 
men  to  this  monstrous  extremity,  which  is  contrary  to  moral- 
and  international  law,  both  these  men  who  have  already  been 
taken  to  Germany  and  those  who  to-morrow  will  undergo  the 
same  fate,  if  from  the  outside,  from  neutral  Europe  and  the 
United  States,  no  help  is  offered. 

"Oh!     The  Belgian  women  have  also  known  how  to  carry  out 

The  women  of  their  duty  in  the  hour  of  danger;  they  have  not 
Belgium  have  weakened  the  courage  of  the  soldiers  of  honor  by 
kept  back  their  their  tears. 

tears*  "They  have  bravely  given  to  their  country 

those  whom  they  loved.     *     *     *     The   blood  of  mothers  is 
flowing  on  the  battle-fields. 

"Those  who  are  taken  away  to-day  do  not  go  to  perform  a 
glorious  duty.  They  are  slaves  in  chains  who,  in  a  dark  exile, 
threatened  by  hunger,  prison,  death,  will  be  called  upon  to  per- 
form the  most  odious  work — service  to  the  enemy  against  the 
fatherland. 

"The  mothers  can  not  stand  by  while  such  an  abomination 
is  taking  place  without  making  their  voices  heard  in  protest. 

"They  are  not  thinking  of  their  own  sufferings,  their  own  moral 
torture,  the  abandonment  and  the  misery  in  which  they  are  to  be 
placed  >with  their  children. 

"They  address  you  in  the  name  of  the  inalterable  rights  of 
honor  and  conscience. 

The  rights  of        uj^  nag  been  sajd  ^nat  women  are  'all  power- 
honor  and   con-    r  ,  ,.          , 
science.                   ful    suppliants. 

"We  have  felt  authorized  by  this  saying. 
Mr.  Minister,  to  extend  our  hands  to  you  and  to  address  to  your 
country  a  last  appeal. 

"We  trust  that  in  reading  these  lines  you  will  feel  at  each  word 
the  unhappy  heartbeats  of  the  Belgian  women  and  will  find  in 
your  broad  and  humane  sympathy  .imperative  reasons  for 
intervention. 

"Only  the  united  will  of  the  neutral  peoples  energetically 
expressed  can  counterbalance  that'  of  the  German  authorities. 

"This  assistance  which  the  neutral  nations  can  and,  therefore, 
ought  to  lend  us,  will  it  be  refused  to  the  oppressed  Belgians? 

"Be  good  enough  to  accept,  Mr.  Minister,  the  homage  of  our 
most  distinguished  consideration." 

(Signed  by  a  number  of  Belgian  women  and  24  societies.) 

The  United  States  Government  did  not  fail  to  respond  to  this 


GERMAN    WAR    PRACTICES.  71 

touching  appeal  and  to  others  of  a  similar  nature.  The  American 
Embassy  at  Berlin  promptly  took  up  the  burning  question  of  the 
deportations  with  the  Chancellor  and  other  representatives  of 
the  German  Government.  In  an  interview  with  the  Under 
Secretary  of  State  for  Foreign  Affairs,  Mr.  Grew  was  handed  an 
official  statement  of  the  German  plans,  which  is,  in  translation, 
as  follows: 

THE  GERMAN  MEMORANDUM  ON  BELGIAN  "UNEMPLOYMENT." 

"Against  the  unemployed  in  Belgium,  who  are  a  burden  to 
public  charity,  in  order  to  avoid  friction  arising 

More  German  therefrom,  compulsory  measures  are  to  be 
adopted  to  make  them  work  so  far  as  they  are 
not  voluntarily  inclined  to  work,  in  accordance  with  the  regula- 
tion issued  May  15,  1916,  by  the  Governor  General.  In  order  to 
ascertain  such  persons  the  assistance  of  the  municipal  authorities 
is  required  for  the  district  of  the  Governor  General  in  Brussels, 
while  in  the  districts  outside  of  the  General  Government,  i.  e., 
in  the  provinces  of  Flanders,  lists  were  demanded  from  the 
presidents  of  the  local  relief  committees  containing  the  names  of 
persons  receiving  relief.  For  the  sake  of  establishing  uniform 
procedure  the  competent  authorities  have,  in  the  meantime,  been 
instructed  to  make  the  necessary  investigations  regarding  such 
persons  also  in  Flanders  through  the  municipal  authorities; 
furthermore,  presidents  of  local  relief  committees  who  may  be 
detained  for  having  refused  to  furnish  such  lists  will  be  released." 

Mr.  Grew  pointed  out  that  the  deportations  were  a  breach  of 
faith  and  would  injure  the  German  cause  abroad.  In  his  official 
summary  of  the  negotiations  which  he  carried  on  he  says: 

"I  then  discussed  in  detail  with  the  Under  Secretary  of  State 

Mr  G  r  w  *'or  Foreign  Affairs  the  unfortunate  impression 
points  'out  that  which  this  decision  would  make  abroad,  remind- 
Germany  excites  ing  him  that  the  measures  were  in  principle 
public  opinion  contrary  to  the  assurances  given  to  the  Ambassa- 
agamst  her.  (jor  ^r  ^e  Chancellor  at  General  Headquarters 

last  spring  and  dwelling  on  the  effect  which  the  policy  might 
have  on  England's  attitude  towards  relief  work  in  Belgium.  I 
said  I  understood  that  the  measures  had  been  promulgated  solely 
by  the  military  government  in  Belgium  and  that  1  thought  the 
matter  ought  at  least  to  be  brought  to  the  Chancellor's  personal 
attention  in  the  light  of  the  consequences  which  the  new  policy 
would  entail.  Herr  Zimmermann  intimated  in  reply  that  the 
Foreign  Office  had  very  little  influence  with  the  military  authori- 
ties and  that  it  was  unlikely  that  the  new  policy  in  Belgium  could 
be  revoked.  He  stated,  however,  in  answer  to  my  inquiry, 


72  GERMAN    WAR   PRACTICES. 

that  he  would  not  disapprove  of  my  seeing  the  Chancellor  about 
the  matter." 

Mr.  Grew  accordingly  took  up  the  whole  question  with  the 

Mr.  Grew  ap-  Chancellor,  and  among  other  arguments  urged 
peals  to  the  the  promises  which  the  German  Government  had 
Chancellor  solemnly  made  to  the  Belgian  civilians  through 

Baron  von  Huene  and  Baron  von  der  Goltz.  [These  pledges  are 
set  forth  in  detail  in  Cardinal  Mercier's  letter  of  October  19th, 
1916,  quoted  in  full  on  preceding  pages.]  Mr.  Grew  found  it 
impossible  to  persuade  the  Chancellor  to  secure  the  abandonment 
of  the  policy  of  deportations,  and  thereupon  urged  that  the 
policy  should  be  modified.  His  formal  statement  of  this  phase 
of  the  negotiations  is  as  follows: 

"The  points  of  amelioration  which  I  then  suggested  as  a  con- 
cession to  Belgian  national  feeling  and  foreign  opinion  were  as 
follows: 

"1.  Only  actual  unemployed  to  be  taken,  involving  a  more 
deliberate  and  careful  selection. 

"2.  Married  men  or  heads  of  families  not  to  be  taken. 

"3.  Employees  of  the  Comite  National  not  to  be  taken. 

"4.  The  lists  of  the  unemployed  not  to  be  required  of  the 

Belgian  authorities,  but  to  be  determined  by  the 

and  asks  certain    German  authorities  themselves,  as  a  concession 

concessions  to  Belgian  national  feeling,  and  the  Belgians, 

who  had  already  been    imprisoned  for  refusing 

to  supply  these  lists,  released. 

"5.  Deported  persons  to  be  permitted  to  correspond  with  their 
families  in  Belgium. 

"6.  Places  of  work  or  concentration  camps  of  deported  persons 
to  be  voluntarily  opened  by  the  German  Government  to  inspection 
by  neutral  representatives. 


"A  few  days  later  Count  Zech,  the  Chancellor's  adjutant, 
called  on  me  and  communicated  to  me  informally  and  orally  the 
following  replies  to  the  various  suggestions  which  I  had  made  for 
concessions  and  points  of  amelioration : 

"1.  Only  actual  unemployed  were  to  be  taken.  The  selections 
but  with  slight  would  be  made  in  a  careful  and  deliberate  man- 
success,  ner. 

"2.  Married  men  or  heads  of  families  could  not  in  principle 
be  exempted,  but  each  case  would  be  considered  carefully  on 
its  merits. 

"3.  Employees  of  the  Comite  Xi'idotml  are  regarded  as  actually 
employed  and  therefore  exempt. 

"4.  It  was  essential  that  the  Belgian  authorities  should  co- 
operate with  the  German  authorities  in  furnishing  lists  of  unem- 
ployed, in  order  to  avoid  mistakes.  Only  one  Belgian  had  been 


GERMAN    WAR   PRACTICES.  73 

imprisoned  for  refusing  to  give  such  lists,  and  orders  had  now 
been  given  for  his  release. 

"").  Deported  persons  would  be  permitted  to  correspond  with 
their  families  in  Belgium. 

"6.  Places  of  work  and  concentration  camps  would  in  principle 
be  open  to  inspection  by  Spanish  diplomatic  representatives. 

"American  inspection  might  also  be  informally  arranged  if 
desired. 


"On  December  2nd,  the  Minister  at  Brussels  communicated 
to  me  the  text  of  a  telegram  which  he  had  sent  to  the  Department 
on  November  28th,  stating  that  he  had  been  encouraged  by  the 
report  of  the  results  of  my  interview  with  the  Chancellor.  *  *  *" 

The  telegram  to  which  Mr.  Grew  refers  was  the  following: 

MINISTER  WHITLOCK'S  TELEGRAM  OF  NOVEMBER  28,  1916. 

"BRUSSELS,  VIA  THE  HAGUE,  November  28,  1916. 
"SECRETARY  OF  STATE, 

"Washington. 

"We  are  naturally  encouraged  by  Grew's  telegrams  concerning 
his  conversations  with  the  Chancellor.  It  is 
Jtta?to  SttUrf  Probable  that  the  orders  tfor  softening  the  rigors 
Belgian  workmen.  °f  the  deportations]  have  not  yet  been  put  into 
effect,  as  the  recruiting  of  Belgian  workmen 
continues  without  distinction  as  between  the  employed  and 
unemployed.  I  have  received  creditable  information  that  choice 
is  made  with  great  rapidity,  which  allows  no  time  for  examination. 
Mayor  in  the  Province  of  Namur  had  given  a  list  of  unemployed 
as  one  hundred.  Practically  none  of  the  persons  in  this  list  were 
taken  by  the  Germans,  but  from  the  same  district  hundreds  of 
employed  were  taken.  Apparently  the  choice  is  based  entirely 
on  the  skill  and  physical  fitness  of  the  workmen.  There  is  a 
great  demand  for  blacksmiths  and  iron  workers.  The  identifi- 
cation cards  from  the  Commission  for  Relief  in  Belgium  issued 
to  men  working  for  the  Comite  National  were  respected  in  Antwerp; 
nine  men  holding  them  were  taken  at  Mons;  over  thirty  at  Namur, 
and  a  few  each  day  in  various  parts  of  the  country.  Over  forty 
thousand  are  engaged  in  various  departments  of  relief  work, 
however,  and  this  is  but  a  small  percentage.  It  is  reliably  reported 
that  very  bad  conditions  exist  in  the  Province  of  Valenciennes, 
and  that  many  men  have  been  taken  there.  They  have  been 
without  food  for  sixty-three  hours  and  have  no  blankets.  Appar- 
ently they  have  been  deprived  of  food  in  order  to  oblige  them  to 
work  for  the  Germans. 

"WHITLOCK, 
"American  Minister." 


74  GERMAN    WAR   PRACTICES. 

The  American  minister  and  the  representatives  of  other  powers 
were  able  to  secure  some  lessening  of  the  severity  of  the  deporta- 
tions. Minister  Whitlock  says: 

REPORT  OF  MINISTER  WHITLOCK    (continued). 

"We  have,  of  course,  done  all  that  was  in  our  power  to  ameliorate 
the  conditions  without  in  any  way  seeming  ffiocially 

Neutral  repre-  to  intervene.  I  have  already  reported  to  the  Depart- 
fowe^to^uest  men^  ^ne  conversations  I  have  had  with  the  officials. 
reconsideration  Recently  I  induced  the  Political  Department  to 
of  special  cases,  request  that  we  bring  to  their  attention  any  case  of 
flagrant  injustice,  and  on  the  basis  of  this  admission 
we  have  been  sending  from  time  to  time  to  the  German  authorities  the 
names  of  certain  deported  Belgians  who  were  working  at  the  time  of 
their  seizure  and  therefore  did  not  come  within  the  purview  of  the 
rule  laid  down  by  the  German  Government  that  the  unemployed  should, 
be  deported.  Other  neutral  Legations  in  Brussels  have  done  the  same , 
and  the  work  has  assumed  proportions  that  are  so  large  that  I  fear 
they  may  defeat  its  ends.  The  Legations  of  Spain  and  Holland 
have  organized  similar  bureaus,  and  so  many  requests  for  repatriation 
are  received  that  I  have  been  compelled  to  rent  rooms  in  a  vacant  house, 
across  the  street  from  the  Legation  in  the  rue  Belliard,  to  carry  on  the 
work.  The  necessary  staff  and  supplies  for  the  work  have  been 
furnished  by  the  Comite  National,  which  has  organized^  central 
bureau  that  investigates  all  reports  received  by  the  Legations  in  order 
to  determine  whether  or  not  the  persons  mentioned  have  received 
financial  assistance  since  the  war,  and,  as  well,  to  avoid  duplication 

„,  in  representations.      Inasmuch  as  it  is  difficult  to 

Iney  run  into          7  r  ,.          T  ~  T       -ji<.         ,1    ,  .7 

high  figures.  make  exceptions,  I  fear,  as  I  said  before,  that  the 

very  mass  of  these  requests  will  prevent  their  being 
examined  with  any  care.  So  far  as  we  are  able  to  determine,  about 
100,000  have  been  deported, and  of  those  less  than  2,000  have  returned. 

"The  Spanish  Legation  which,  because  of  the  fact  that  Spain  is 
charged  with  the  protection  of  Belgian  interests  in  Germany,  claims 
precedence  in  this  matter ,  *  *  *  makes  a  demand  for  the  return 
of  each  and  every  one  who  applies,  and  sends  in  about  two  hundred 
names  each  day.  The  Dutch  Legation  *  *  *  forwards  each 
request  that  is  presented,  and,  owing  to  the  fact  that  after  the  fall  of 
Antwerp,  assurances  were  given  by  the  German  Authorities  through 
the  Dutch  Government  to  Belgian  refugees  in  Holland  that  they  would 
not  be  deported  should  they  return  to  Belgium,  they  are  receiving  a 
great  many.  I  am  told  that  they  submit  over  fifteen  hundred  each 
day.  *  *  * 

"We  have  a  great  many  requests,  and  although  we  try  not  to  dis- 
criminate we  attempt  to  pick  out  the  most  deserving  cases,  though  now 
that  I  have  written  that  phrase  I  feel  a  certain  shame  in  it  because  all 
the  cases  are  deserving. 


GERMAN    WAR    PRACTICES.  75 

"I  have  had  requests  from  the  burgomasters  of  ten  communes  from, 
La  Louviere,  asking  that  permission  be  obtained 
-  *°  Sen^  *°  *ne  deported  men  in  Germany  package* 
ages  to  each  de-  of  food  similar  to  those  that  are  being  sent  to  prisoners 
ported  Belgians,  of  war.  Thus  far  the  German  authorities  have 
refused  to  permit  this  except  in  special  instances, 
and  returning  Belgians  claim  that  even  when  such  packages  are 
received  they  are  used  by  the  camp  authorities  only  as  another  means 
of  coercing  them  to  sign  the  agreements  to  work. 

"It  is  said  that,  in  spite  of  the  liberal  salary  promised  those  who 
would  sign  voluntarily,  no  money  has  as  yet  been  received  in  Belgium 
from  workmen  in  Germany."  (Concluded  on  p.  78.) 

The  American  Government  was  not  content  with  informal 
recommendations  to  the  German  Government,  and  on  December 
5,  1916,  the  American  representative  at  Berlin  laid  this  formal 
protest  before  the  German  chancellor: 

FORMAL   PROTEST    OF   AMERICAN    GOVERNMENT. 

"The  Government  of  the  United  States  has  learned  with  the 
greatest  concern  and  regret  of  the  policy  of  the 
test  ^^"unfted    German  Government  to  deport  from  Belgium  a 
States.  portion  of  the  civilian  population  with  the  result 

of  forcing  them  to  labor  in  Germany,  and  is 
constrained  to  protest  in  a  friendly  spirit  but  most  solemnly 
against  this  action  which  is  in  contravention  of  all  precedent  and 
those  humane  principles  of  international  practice  which  have 
long  been  accepted  and  followed  by  civilized  nations  in  their 
treatment  of  non-combatants  in  conquered  territory.  Further- 
more, the  Government  of  the  Unites  States  is  convinced  that  the 
effect  of  this  policy  if  pursued  will  in  all  probability  be  fatal  to 
the  Belgian  relief  work  so  humanely  planned  and  so  successfully 
carried  out,  a  result  which  would  be  generally  deplored  and  which, 
it  is  assumed,  would  seriously  embarrass  the  German  Govern- 
ment." 

This  protest  was  followed  by  those  of  the  Pope,  the  King  of 
Spain,    the    Government    of    Switzerland,    and 

other  neutrals-  They  were  of  no  avail>  except, 
protest,  perhaps,  to  lead  the  German  authorities  to  draw 

a  tighter  veil  over  their  detestable  proceedings. 
But  the  evidence  has  in  some  measure  come  through,  although 
the  full  facts  will  not  be  known  until  the  liberation  of  heroic 
Belgium. 

In  the  Norddeutsche  Allgemeine  Zeitung  of  December  2,  1916, 
the  following  protests  appeared,  made,  respectively,  by  Socialist 
Deputy  Haase  and  Deputy  Dittmann,  members  of  the  Reichstag: 


76  GERMAN    WAR    PRACTICES. 

PROTESTS   AGAINST   DEPORTATIONS   HEARD    IN    REICHSTAG. 

"Thousands  of  workmen  in  the  occupied  territory  have  been 
compelled  to  forced  labor;  we  earnestly  ask  the  government  to 
restore  to  these  workmen  their  liberty,  especially  in  Belgium. 
In  truth,  we  [the  Germans]  find  no  sympathy  in  neutral  countries ; 
even  the  Pope  has  made  a  protest  against  this  procedure,  and 
several  neutral  states  have  done  the  same.  Common  sense 
itself  demands  that  we  abandon  this  procedure  which  moreover 
is  in  opposition  to  the  Hague  Convention  to  which  we  have 
agreed." 

"In  opposition  to  the  Secretary  of  State,  I  must  recall  that 
when  formerly  the  Belgian  workmen  who  had  fled  to  Holland 
returned  to  Belgium,  Governor  General  von  Bissing  promised 
that  these  Belgian  workmen  would  under  no  circumstances  be 
deported  to  Germany.  This  reassuring  promise  has  not  been 
kept." 

Ambassador  Gerard's  interesting  testimony  appears  in  his 
recent  book: 

AMBASSADOR   GERARD'S    EVIDENCE. 

"The  President  [during  my  visit  to  America  in  1916]  impressed 
upon    me    his    great    interest    in    the    Belgians 

American  indig-  Reported  to  Germany.  The  action  of  Germany 
nation  at  deporta-  .  * , 

tjons.  in  thus  carrying  a  great  part  of  the  male  popu- 

lation of  Belgium  into  virtual  slavery  had 
roused  great  indignation  in  America.  As  the  revered  Cardi- 
nal Farley  said  to  me  a  few  days  before  my  departure,  'You 
have  to  go  back  to  the  times  of  the  Medes  and  the  Persians  to 
find  a  like  example  of  a  whole  people  carried  into  bondage.' 

"Mr.  Grew  had  made  representations  about  this  to  the  Chan- 
cellor and,  on  my  return,  I  immediately  took  up  the  question. 

"1  was  informed  that  it  was  a  military  measure,  that  Ludendorf 
had  feared  that  the  British  would  break  through 

Gerard  not  per-  d  overmn  Belgium  and  that  the  military  did 
nutted  to  visit  i_  J.M  i  ,•  ^  j.u  • 

deported  Belgians.  no^  Pr°P°se  to  have  a  hostile  population  at  their 

'  backs  who  might  cut  the  rail  lines  of  communi- 
cation, telephones  and  telegraphs,  and  that  for  this  reason  the 
deportation  had  been  decided  on.  I  was,  however,  told  I  would 
be  given  permission  to  visit  these  Belgians.  The  passes,  never- 
theless, which  alone  made  such  visiting  possible  were  not  delivered 
until  a  few  days  before  I  left  Germany. 

"Several  of  these  Belgians  who  were  put  to  work  in  Berlin 
managed  to  get  away  and  come  to  see  me.    They 

Some  of  them  g-ave  me  a  harrowing  account  of  how  thev  had 
call  on  him.  •  i  •  -r»  i  •  i 

been  seized  in  Belgium  and  made  to  work  in 


GERMAN   WAR   PRACTICES.  77 

Germany  at  making  munitions  to  be  used  probably  against  their 
own  friends. 

"I  said  to  the  Chancellor,  'There  are  Belgians  employed  in 
making  shells  contrary  to  all  rules  of  war  and  the  Hague  Conven- 
tions.' He  said,  'I  do  not  believe  it.'  I^said,  'My  automobile 
is  at  the  door.  I  can  take  you,  in  four  minutes,  to  where  thirty 
Belgians  are  working  on  the  manufacture  of  shells.'  But  he  did 
not  find  time  to  go. 

"Americans  must  understand  that  the  Germans  will  stop  at 
nothing  to  win  this  war,  and  that  the  only  thing  they  respect  is 
force."  James  W.  Gerard,  My  Four  Years  in  Germany,  1917, 
pp.  351-52. 

A  similar  point  of  view  is  expressed  in  an  article  entitled  "Vac 
Victis"  from  the  Hungarian  newspaper  Nepszawa  of  Budapest 
(quoted  in  K.  G.  Ossiannilsson,  Militarism  at  Work  in  Belgium 
and  Germany,  1917,  pp.  53-54). 

HUNGARIAN    OPINION    ON    DEPORTATIONS. 

"Mechanical  skill,  and  especially  qualified  mechanical  skill, 
is  for  the  moment  a  more  important  factor  than  usual,  and  as  it 
must  be  obtained  where  it  can  be  obtained,  Belgium  has  had  to 
suffer  in  accordance  with  the  old  saying  which  always  holds 
good:  Vae  victis  (woe  to  the  vanquished) .  In  Poland,  mechanical 
skill  and  the  arms  which  exist  there  are  mobilized  under  'the 
glorious  and  fortunate  banners  of  Poland';  in  Belgium  under 
'the  banner  of  necessity.'  ' 

"  *  *  *  The  question  remains:  for  what  kind  of  work 
will  the  Germans  use  the  Belgians?  *  *  * 

The  Germans  Every  kind  of  work  in  Germany  is  war  work, 
a[ansf  "Itor16  ^war  wne^er  ^  is  called  agricultural  or  industrial  work, 
work.  As  the  deported  Belgians  have  not  given  their 

consent,  their  use  is  contrary  to  international 
law,  and  the  policy  of  the  Germans  in  Belgium  and  Poland  is 
equally  to  be  deplored.  Instead  of  aiming  at  bringing  us  nearer 
peace,  it  serves  to  embitter  our  opponents  and  to  rouse  more 
hatred  towards  us  amongst  the  neutrals.  Many  times  and  more 
and  more  we  have  had  occasion  to  observe  that  the  neutrals  show 
more  sympathy  for  Belgium  than  for  any  other  belligerent." 

The  news  dispatches  indicate  that  the  deportation  and  forced 
labor  of  Belgians  still  continue.     In  a  dispatch 
from  Havre  (New  York  Evening  Post,  September 
September,  191?!    13,   1917)  it  is  stated:      "The  removal  of  the 
civilian   population   of   Belgium   continues,   ac- 
cording to  advices  received  here.     The  town  of  Roulers,  immedi- 


7S  GERMAN    WAR    PRACTICES. 

ately  behind  the  battle  line  in  Flanders,  has  been  evacuated 
completely.  Ostend  is  being  emptied  gradually,  and  two 
thousand  persons  already  have  been  sent  from  Courtrai."  In 
another  dispatch  from  Havre  (Washington  Post,  September  24, 
1917)  it  is  stated  that  "the  German  military  authorities  at  Bruges, 
Belgium,  are  conscripting  forcibly  all  the  boys  and  men  of  that 
city  between  the  ages  of  14  and  ()0  to  work  in  munition  factories 
and  shipyards.  The  rich  and  poor,  shopkeepers  and  workmen, 
all  are  being  taken,  only  the  school-teachers,  doctors,  and  priests 
escaping." 

REPORT   OF   MINISTER    WHITLOCK    (concluded). 

"One  interesting  result  of  the  deportations  remains  to  be  noted, 
a  result  that  once  more  places  in  relief  the  Germa  a 

German  capac*-    capacity  for  blundering,  almost  as  great  as  the 
ity  for   blunder-     ^^  ..      ,  T7   ,  .7W.,       •, 

j£g>  German  capacity  for  cruelty,     until  me  deporta- 

tions were  begun  there  was  no  intense  hatred  on  the 
part  of  the  lower  classes,  i.  e.,  the  working-men  and  the  peasants. 
The  old  Germans  of  the  Landsturm  had  been  quartered  in  Flemish 
homes;  they  and  the  inmates  spoke  nearly  the  same  language;  they 
got  along  fairly  well;  they  helped  the  women  with  the  work,  the  poor 
and  the  humble  having  none  of  those  hatreds  of  patriotism  that  are 
among  the  privileges  of  the  upper  classes.  It  is  conceivable  that  the 
Flemish  population  might  have  existed  under  German  rule;  it  was 
Teutonic  in  its  origin  and  anti-French  always.  But  now  the 
Germans  have  changed  all  that. 

11  They  have  dealt  a  mortal  blow  to  any  prospect  they  may  ever  have 
had  of  being  tolerated  by  the  population  of  Flanders; 

Germans  will  jn  tearing  away  from  nearly  every  humble  home  in 
generations  *he  land  a  husband  and  a  father  or  a  son  and  brother 

they  have  lighted'  a  fire  of  hatred  that  will  never  go 
out;  they  have  brought  home  to  every  heart  in  the  land,  in  a  way  that 
will  impress  its  horror  indelibly  on  the  memory  of  three  generations, 
a  realization  of  what  German  methods  mean,  not,  as  with  the  early 
atrocities,  in  the  heat  of  passion  and  the  first  lust  of  war,  but  by  one 
of  those  deeds  that  make  one  despair  of  the  future  of  the  human  race, 
a  deed  coldly  planned,  studiously  matured,  and  deliberately  and 
systematically  executed,  a  deed  so  cruel  that  German  soldiers  are  said 
to  have  wept  in  its  execution,  and  so  monstrous  that  even  German 
officers  are  now  said  to  be  ashamed. 

"WHITLOCK." 

Mr.  Hoover's  mature  conclusions  on  the  German  practices  in 
Belgium,  which  he  has  written  for  this  pamphlet,  reinforce  the 
detailed  evidence  already  presented. 


GCRMAN  WAR  PRACTICES.  79 

MR.  HOOVER'S  CONCLUSIONS. 

SEPTEMBER,  1917. 

1  have  been  often  called  upon  for  a  statement  of  my  observation 
of  German  rule  in  Belgium  and  Northern  France. 

I  have  neither  the  desire  nor  the  adequate  pen  to  picture  the 
scenes  which  have  heated  my  blood  through  the  two  and  a  half 
years  that  I  have  spent  in  work  for  the  relief  of  these  10,000,000 
people. 

The  sight  of  the  destroyed  homes  and  cities,  the  widowed  and 
fatherless,  the  destitute,  the  physical  misery  of 

Belgian  atroci-  a  peOpie  DUt  partially  nourished  at  best,  the 
ties  are  the  result  ,  *  ,.  /?  e  ,,  V 

of  the  "system."    deportation  of  men  by  tens  of  thousands  to 

slavery  in  German  mines  and  factories,  the 
execution  of  men  and  women  for  paltry  effusions  of  their  loyalty 
to  their  country,  the  sacking  of  every  resource  through  financial 
robbery,  the  battening  of  armies  on  the  slender  produce  of  the 
country,  the  denudation  of  the  country  of  cattle,  horses  and 
textiles;  all  these  things  we  had  to  witness,  dumb  to  help  other 
than  by  protest  and  sympathy,  during  this  long  and  terrible 
time — and  still  these  are  not  the  events  of  battle  heat,  but  the 
effects  of  a  grinding  heel  of  a  race  demanding  the  mastership  of 
the  world. 

All  these  things  are  well  known  to  the  world — but  what  can 
never  be  known  is  the  dumb  agony  of  the  people,  the  expression- 
less faces  of  millions  whose  souls  have  passed  the  whole  gamut 
of  emotions.  And  why?  Because  these,  a  free  and  democratic 
people,  dared  plunge  their  bodies  before  the  march  of  autocracy. 

I  myself  believe  that  if  we  do  not  fight  and  fight  now,  all  these 
things  are  possible  to  us — but  even  should  the  broad  Atlantic 
prove  our  present  defender,  there  is  still  Belgium.  Is  it  worth 
while  for  us  to  live  in  a  world  where  this  free  and  unoffending 
people  is  to  be  trampled  into  the  earth  and  to  raise  no  sword  in 
protest? 

HERBERT  HOOVER. 

FRANCE. 

In  France  the  German  system  of  forced  labor  and  deportations, 
with  its  attendant  callousness,  brutalities,   and 

German  prac-  horrors,  was  the  same  as  in  Belgium.  Inasmuch 
tices  were  the  ,,  ,-,  ,.  ,  ,  , 

same  in  all  occu-    as  *ne  German  system  in  action  has  been  ade- 

pied  regions.  quately  illustrated  in  the  foregoing  pages  on 
Belgium,  it  will  suffice  in  this  part  simply  to 
show  the  real  identity  of  German  practice  in  the  two  occupied 
regions.  This  can  be  done  from  the  official  documents  and  from 
a  summary  by  Ambassador  Gerard.  The  harrowing  details  may 


80  GERMAN    WAR    PRACTICES. 

be  gathered  from  the  scores  of  depositions  which  accompany  the 
note  addressed  by  the  French  Government  to  the  Governments 
of  the  neutral  powers  July  25,  1916.  These  are  on  file  in  the 
State  Department,  and  have  also  been  translated,  along  with  the 
official  documents,  in  The  Deportation  of  Women  and  Girls  from 
Lille,  New  York,  Doran. 

PROCLAMATION    OF   THE    GERMAN   MILITARY    COMMANDANT    OF 

LILLE. 

"The  attitude  of  England  .makes  the  provisioning  of  the  popu- 
lation more  and  more  difficult. 

"To  reduce  the  misery,  the  German  authorities  have  recently 
asked  for  volunteers  to  go  and  work  in  the  country.  This  offer 
has  not  had  the  success  that  was  expected. 

"In  consequence  of  this  the  inhabitants  will  be  deported  by 
order  and  removed  into  the  country,    persons 

German  procla-  depOrted  will  be  sent  to  the  interior  of  the  occupied 
ination  at  Lille,  ,  •  -n  r  u-  j  i  r 

April,  1916.  territory  in  France,  far  behind  the  front,  where 

they  will  be  emplojred  in  agricultural  labor, 
and  not  on  any  military  work  whatever.  By  this  measure  they 
will  be  given  the  opportunity  of  providing  better  for  their  sub- 
sistence. 

"In  case  of  necessity,  provisions  can  be  obtained  through  the 
German  depots.  Every  person  deported  will  be  allowed  to 
take  with  him  30  kilograms  of  baggage  (household  utensils, 
clothes,  etc.),  which  it  will  be  well  to  make  ready  at  once. 

"I  therefore  order  that  no  one,  until  further  orders,  shall  change 
his  place  of  residence.  No  one  may  absent  himself  from  his 
declared  legal  residence  from  9  p.  m.  to  6  a.  m.  (German  time), 
unless  he  is  in  possession  of  a  permit  in  due  form. 

"Inasmuch  as  this  is  an  irrevocable  measure,  it  is  in  the  interest 
of  the  population  itself  to  remain  calm  and  obedient. 

"COMMANDANT. 

"LILLE,  April,  1916." 

NOTICE    DISTRIBUTED   TO    HOUSES    IX   LILLE. 

"All  the  inhabitants  of  the  house,  with  the  exception  of  children 
under  fourteen  and  their  mothers,  and  also  of  old  people,  must 
prepare  themselves  for  transportation  in  an  hour  and  a  half's 
rime. 

"An  officer  will  decide  definitely  what  persons  will  be  laken 
to  the  concentration  camps.     For  this  purpose 

Inhabitants  of  n  th  inhabitants  of  the  house  mu>l  resemble 
Lille  given  90  .  ,,  ,.  .,  ,.  , 

minutes    to    get    m  front  ot  it:    in  case  of  bad  weather  they  may 

ready  to  depart,    remain  in  the  passage.     The  door  of  the  house 

must  remain  open.     All  protests  will  be  useless. 


GERMAN    WAR   PRACTICES.  81 

No  inmate  of  the  house,  even  those  who  are  not  to  be  transported, 
may  leave  the  house  before  8  a.  m.  (German  time). 

"Each  person  will  be  permitted  to  take  30  kilograms  of  baggage; 
if  anyone's  baggage  exceeds  that  weight,  it  will  all  be  rejected 
without  further  consideration .  Packages  must  be  separately  made 
up  for  each  person  and  must  bear  an  address  legibly  written  and 
firmly  affixed.  This  address  must  contain  the  surname  and  the 
Christian  name  and  the  number  of  the  identity  card. 

"It  is  absolutely  necessary  that  each  person  should,  in  his 

.    own  interest,  provide  himself  with  eating  and 

o^cooS.tn"  pinking   utensils,    as   we"   as,.with   a   woolen 

siis.  blanket,  good  shoes,  and  body  linen.     Everyone 

must   carry   his   identity   card   on   his   person. 

Anyone  attempting   to  evade   transportation  will  be  punished 

without  mercy. 

' '  ETAPPEN-KOMMANDANTUR  . ' ' 

[ LILLE,  April,  1916.} 

PROTEST  OF  BISHOP  CHAROST,   OF  LILLE,  ADDRESSED  TO  GENERAL 
VON    GRAEVENITZ. 

"MONSIEUR  LE  GENERAL:  It  is  my  duty  to  bring  to  your 
notice  the  fact  that  a  very  agitated  state  of  mind  exists  among 
the  population. 

"Numerous  removals  of  women  and  girls,  certain  transfers  of 
men  and  youth,  and  even  of  children,  have  been  carried  out  in  the 
districts  of  Tourcoing  and  Roubaix  without  judicial  procedure  or 
trial. 

"The  unfortunate  people  have  been  sent  to  unknown  places. 
Measures  equally  extreme  and  on  a  larger  scale 
tests eagS°stPde-are  contemplated  at  Lille.  You  will  not  be 
portations.  surprised,  Monsieur  le  General,  that  I  intercede 

with  you  in  the  name  of  the  religious  mission 
confided  to  me.  That  mission  lays  on  me  the  burden  of  defending 
with  respect  but  with  courage,  the  Law  of  Nations,  which  the 
law  of  war  must  never  infringe,  and  that  eternal  morality  whose 
rules  nothing  can  suspend.  It  makes  it  my  duty  to  protect  the 
feeble  and  the  unarmed,  who  are  as  my  family  to  me  and  whose 
burdens  and  sorrows  are  mine. 

"You  are  a  father;  you  know  that  there  is  not  in  the  order  of 
humanity  a  right  more  honorable  or  more  holy 

himSy    of   the  than  that  9f  the  family-     For  every  Christian 
commander.  ^ne  inviolability  of  God,  who  created  the  family, 

attaches  to  it.  The  German  officers  who  have 
been  billeted  for  a  long  time  in  our  homes  know  how  deep  in  our 
hearts  we  of  the  North  hold  family  affection  and  that  it  is  the 
sweetest  thing  in  life  to  us.  Thus  to  dismember  the  family 
by  tearing  youths  and  girls  from  their  homes  is  not  war;  it  is  for 
us  tortures  and  the  worst  of  tortures — unlimited  moral  torture. 


82  GERMAN    WAR   PRACTICES. 

Tim  violation  of  family  rights  is  doubled  by  a  violation  of  the 

sacred  demands  of  morality.     Morality  is  exposed  to  perils,  the 

mere  idea  of  which  is  revolting  to  every  honest  man,  from  the 

promiscuity  which  inevitably  accompanies  re- 

deportaTiona  da£  movals  *n  7nasse>  involvinS  mixture  of  the  sexes, 
ger  to  morals.  or> a^  a"  events,  of  persons  of  very  unequal  moral 
standing.  Young  girls  of  irreproachable  life, 
who  have  never  committed  any  worse  offense  than  that  of  trying 
to  pick  up  some  bread  or  a  few  potatoes  to  feed  a  numerous  f amily , 
and  who  have  besides  paid  the  light  penalty  for  such  trespass, 
have  been  carried  off.  Their  mothers,  who  have  watched  so 
closely  over  them  and  had  no  other  joy  than  that  of  keeping  their 
daughters  beside  them,  in  the  absence  of  father  and  sons  fighting 
or  killed  at  the  front — these  mothers  are  now  alone.  They  bring 
to  me  their  despair  and  their  anguish.  I  am  speaking  of  what  I 
have  seen  and  heard.  I  know  that  you  have  no  part  in  these 
harsh  measures.  You  are  by  nature  inclined  toward  justice;  that 
is  why  I  venture  to  turn  to  you;  I  beg  you  to  be  good  enough  to 
forward  without  delay  to  the  German  High  Military  Command 
this  letter  from  a  Bishop ,  whose  deep  grief  they  will  easily  imagine . 
We  have  suffered  much  for  the  last  twenty  months,  but  no  stroke 
of  fortune  could  be  comparable  to  this;  it  would  be  as  undeserved 
as  it  is  cruel  and  would  produce  in  all  France  an  indelible  impres- 
sion. I  cannot  believe  that  the  blow  will  fall.  I 
Hopes  for  res-  nave  faith  in  the  human  conscience  and  I  preserve 
toration  of  the  de-  , ,  ,  , ,  j  •  i  r 

ported.  tne  hope  that  the  young  men  and  girls  of  respect- 

able families  will  be  restored  to  their  homes  in 
answer  to  the  demand  for  their  return  and  that  sentiments  of 
justice  and  honor  will  prevail  over  all  lower  considerations. 

"ALEXIS  ARMAND, 

"Bishop." 

ADDRESS    OF   PROMINENT   CITIZENS    OF   ROUBAIX   AND   TOUR- 
COING   TO   THE    PRESIDENT   OF   FRANCE. 

"To  Monsieur  RAYMOND  POINCARE, 

"President  of  the  French  Republic,  Paris. 

"SiR:  We  have  the  honor  to  express  again  our  most  sincere 
gratitude  to  you  for  your  most  kind  reception,  a  few  days  ago, 
of  the  deputation  which  went  with  feelings  of  legitimate  emotion 
to  inform  you  of  the  deportation  of  lads  and  girls,  which  the 
German  authorities  have  just  carried  out  in  the  invaded  districts. 

"We  have  collected  some  details  on  the  subject  from  the  lips 
of  an  honorable  and  trustworthy  person,  who  succeeded  in  leaving 
Tourcoing  about  ten  days  ago;  we  think  it  our  duty  to  bring 
these  details  to  your  notice  by  reproducing  textually  the  declara- 
tions which  have  been  made  to  us: 

"  'These  deportations  began  towards  Easter.     The  Germans 


GERMAN    WAR   PRACTICES.  83 

announced  that  the  inhabitants  of  Roubaix,  Tourcoing,  Lille, 
etc.,  were  going  to  be  transported  into  French  districts  where 
their  provisioning  would  be  easier.  » 

'  'At  night,  at  about  2  o'clock  in  the  morning,  a  whole  district 
Th     r     d        °^  ^e  town  was  invested  by  the  troops  of  occu- 
of  the   deporta-    Potion.     To  each  house  was  distributed  a  printed 
tions.  notice,  of  which  we  give  below  an  exact  repro- 

duction, preserving  the  style  and  spelling.     [See 
second  document,  above.] 

"  'The  inhabitants  so  warned  were  to  hold  themselves  ready 
to  depart  an  hour  and  a  half  after  the  distribution  of  the  procla- 
mation . 

"  'Each  family,  drawn  up  outside  the  house,  was  examined  by 
an  officer,  who  pointed  out  haphazard  the  persons  who  were  to 
go.  No  words  can  express  the  barbarity  of  this  proceeding  nor 
describe  the  heartrending  scenes  which  occurred;  young  men 
and  girls  took  a  hasty  farewell  of  their  parents — a  farewell  hurried 
by  the  German  soldiers  who  were  executing  the  infamous  task — 
rejoined  the  group  of  those  who  were  going,  and  found  themselves 
in  the  middle  of  the  street,  surrounded  by  other  soldiers  with 
fixed  bayonets. 

"  'Tears  of  despair  on  the  part  of  parents  and  children  so 
ruthlessly  separated  did  not  soften  the  hearts  of 

Sometimes  a  the  brutal  Germans.  Sometimes,  however,  a 
kind-hearted  more  kind-hearted  officer  yielded  to  too  great  a 
-officer  could  not  .  ,  r\  ,  J  „  ,, 

carry     out     the    despair,  and  did  not  choose  all  the  persons  whom 

brutal  orders.         he  should — by  the  terms  of  his  instructions — 
have  separated. 

"  'These  girls  and  lads  were  taken  in  street  cars  to  factories, 
where  they  were  numbered  and  labelled  like  cattle  and  grouped  to 
form  convoys.  In  these  factories  they  remained  twelve,  twenty- 
four,  or  thirty-six  hours  until  a  train  was  ready  to  remove  them. 

"  'The  deportation  began  with  the  villages  of  Roncq,  Halluin, 
etc.,  then  Tourcoing  and  Roubaix.  In  towns  the  Germans 
proceeded  by  districts. 

"  'In  all  about  30,000  persons  are  said  to  have  been  carried  off 
Numbers  de-  UP  t°  the  present.  This  monstrous  operation 

ported  has  taken  eight  to  ten  days  to  accomplish.  It 

is  feared,  unfortunately,  that  it  may  begin  again 

soon.     The  departures  took  place  in  freight  cars  to  the  sound  of 

the    "Marseillaise." 

"  'The  reason  given  by  the  German  authorities  is  a  humani- 
tarian (?)  one.  They  have  put  forward  the  following  pretexts: 
provisioning  is  going  to  break  down  in  the  large  towns  in  the 
north  and  their  suburbs,  whereas  in  the  Ardennes  the  feeding  is 
easy  and  cheap. 


81  GER.NLA.N     \VAH    l'UA<    IK   i:>. 

"  'It  is  known  from  the  young  men  and  gii •!>.,  Hiirr  <c\>,\  back 

to  their  families  for  reasons  of  health,  that  in  the 

irTsOU*loS    ta  Department  of  the  Ardennes  the  victims  are 

"disgraceful  pro-  lodged  in  a  terrible  manner,  in  disgraceful  promis- 

miscuity."  cuity;  they  are  compelled  to  work  in  the  fields. 

It  is  unnecessary  to  say  that  the  inhabitants  of 

our  towns  are  not  trained  to  such  work.     The  Germans  pay  them 

1.50  m.     But  there  are  complaints  of  insufficient  food. 

"  'The}-  were  very  badly  received  in  the  Ardennes.  The 
Germans  had  told  the  Ardennais  that  these  were  "volunteers" 
who  were  coming  to  work,  and  the  Ardennais  proceeded  to 
receive  them  with  many  insults,  which  only  ceased  when  the 
forcible  deportation,  of  which  they  were  the  victims,  became 
known . 

"  'Feeling  ran  especially  high  in  our  towns.  Never  has  so 
iniquitous  a  measure  been  carried  out.  The  Germans  have 
shown  all  the  barbarity  of  slave  drivers. 

"  'The  families  so  scattered  are  in  despair  and  the  morale  of 
the  whole  population  is  gravely  affected.  Boys  of  14,  schoolboys 
in  knickerbockers,  young  girls  of  15  to  16  have  been  carried  off, 
and  the  despairing  protests  of  their  parents  failed  to  touch  the 
hearts  of  the  German  officers  or  rather  executioners. 

"  'One  last  detail:  The  persons  so  deported  are  allowed  to 
write  home  once  a  month;  that  is  to  say,  even  less  often  than 
military  prisoners.' 

"Such  are  the  declarations  which  we  have  collected  and  which, 
without  commentary,  confirm  in  an  even  more  striking  way  the 
facts  which  we  took  the  liberty  of  laying  before  you. 

"We  do  not  wish  here  to  enter  into  the  question  of  provisioning 
in  the  invaded  districts;  others,  better  qualified  than  ourselves, 
give  you,  as  we  know,  frequent  information.  It  is  enough  for  us 
to  describe  in  a  few  words  the  situation  from  this  aspect: 

"The  provisioning  is  very  difficult;  food,  apart  from  that 
supplied  by  the  Spanish- American  Committee,  is  very  scarce  and 
terribly  dear.  *  *  *  People  are  hungry  and  the  provisioning 
is  inadequate  by  at  least  a  half;  our  population  is  suffering 
constant  privations  and  is  growing  noticeably  weaker.  The 
death  rate,  too,  has  increased  considerably. 

"Sometimes  inhabitants  of  the  invaded  territories  speak  with 

p  .  .  a  note  of  discouragement,  crying  apparently: 

t  h  e  ne  uVr  a*!  '^  e  are  forsaken  by  everyone.'  We,  on  the 
powers.  other  hand,  are  hopeful,  Monsieur  le  President, 

that  the  energetic  intervention  on  the  part  of 
Neutrals,  which  the  French  Government  is  sure  to  evoke,  will 
soon  bring  to  an  end  these  measures  which  rouse  the  wrath  of  all 
to  whom  humanity  is  not  an  empty  word.  *  *  * 

"With  all  confidence  in  the  sympathy  of  the  Government  we 
venture  to  address  a  new  and  pressing  appeal  to  your  generous 


GERMAN    WAR    PRACTICES.  85 

kindness  and  far-reaching  influence  in  the  name  of  those  who  are 
suffering  on  behalf  of  the  whole  country." 

(Signed  on  behalf  of  various  specified  organizations  by 
Toulemonde,  Charles  Droulers,  Leon  Hatine-Dazin,  and  Louis 
Lorthiois.) 

"PARIS,  15th  June,  1916,  3,  rue  Taitbout." 


AMBASSADOR   GERARD  S    STATEMENT. 

"It  seems  that  the  Germans  had  endeavored  to  get  volunteers 
from  the  great  industrial  towns  of  Lille,  Roubaix, 

delations7  °f  and  Taurcoing  to  wor>k  these  fields;  that  after 
the  posting  of  the  notices  calling  for  volunteers 
only  fourteen  had  appeared.  The  Germans  then  gave  orders  to 
seize  a  certain  number  of  inhabitants  and  send  them  out  to  farms 
in  the  outlying  districts  to  engage  in  agricultural  work.  The 
Americans  told  me  that  this  order  was  carried  out  with  the  greatest 
barbarity;  that  a  man  would  come  home  at  night  and  find  that 
his  wife  or  children  had  disappeared  and  no  one  could  tell  him 
where  they  had  gone  except  that  the  neighbours  would  relate  that 
German  non-commissit>ned  officers  and  a  file  of  soldiers  had 
carried  them  off.  For  instance,  in  a  house  of  a  well-to-do 
merchant  who  had  perhaps  two  daughters  of  fifteen  and  seventeen 
and  a  man  servant,  the  two  daughters  and  the  servant  would  be 
seized  and  sent  off  together  to  work  for  the  Germans  in  some  little 
farm  house  whose  location  was  not  disclosed  to  the  parents. 
The  Americans  told  me  that  this  sort  of  thing  was  causing  such 
indignation  among  the  population  of  these  towns  that  they  feared 
a  great  uprising  and  a  consequent  slaughter  and  burning  by  the 
Germans. 

"That  night  at  dinner  I  spoke  to  the  Chancellor  about  this 
and  told  him  that  it  seemed  to  me  absolutely 
Chancellor  says  outrageous;     and  that,  without  consulting  with 
that  the  ^military  my  government,  I  was  prepared  to  protest  in  the 
ordered    the    de-  name  of  humanity  against  a  continuance  of  this 
portations.  treatment  of  the  civil  population  of  occupied 

France.  The  Chancellor  told  me  that  he  had 
not  known  of  it,  that  it  was  the  result  of  orders  given  by  the 
military,  that  he  would  speak  to  the  Emperor  about  it,  and  that 
he  hoped  to  be  able  to  stop  further  deportations.  I  believe  that 
they  were  stopped,  but  twenty  thousand  or  more  who  had  been 
taken  from  their  homes  were  not  returned  until  months  after- 
wards. I  said  in  a  speech  that  I  made  in  May  on  my  return  to 
America  that  it  required  the  joint  efforts  of  the  Pope,  the  King 
of  Spain,  and  our  President  to  cause  the  return  of  these  people 
to  their  homes;  and  I  then  saw  that  some  German  press  agency 
had  come  out  with  an  article  that  I  had  made  false  statements 
about  this  matter  because  these  people  were  not  returned  to  their 


86  GERMAN    WAR    PRACTICES. 

homes  as  a  result  of  the  representations  of  the  Pope,  the  King 
of  Spain,  and  our  President,  but  were  sent  back  because  the  Ger- 
mans had  no  further  use  for  them.  It  seems  to  me  that  this 
denial  makes  the  case  rather  worse  than  before."  James  W. 
Gerard,  My  Four  Years  in  Germany,  1917,  pp.  333-335. 


POLAND. 

The  systematic  exploitation  of  human  misery  by  the  German 
authorities  in  Poland  followed  the  general  plan  with  which  the 
reader  has  become  only  too  familiar.  In  order  to  pro.ve  the 
identity  of  procedure  it  will  be  enough  to  present  the  detailed 
(•(•port  specially  written  for  this  pamphlet  by  Mr.  Frederic  C. 
Walcott.  A  fuller  and  in  some  ways  more  touching  treatment 
is  given  in  his  article,  ''Devastated  'Poland,"  in  the  National 
(Icographic  Magazine  for  May,  1917. 

POLAND  AND  THE  PRUSSIAN  SYSTEM. 

SEPTEMBER,  1917. 

Poland — Russian  Poland — is  perishing.  And  the  German 
high  command,  imbued  with  the  Prussian  system,  is  coolly 
reckoning  on  the  necessities  of  a  starving  people  to  promote  its 
imperial  ends. 

West  Poland,  which  has  been  Prussian  territory  more  than  a 
hundred  years,  is  a  disappointment  to  Germany;  its  people 
obstinately  remain  Poles.  This  time  they  propose  swifter 
measures.  In  two  or  three  years,  by  grace  of  starvation  and 
frightf ulness,  they  calculate  East  Poland  will  be  thoroughly  made 
over  into  a  German  province1. 

In  the  great  Hindenburg  drive  one  year  ago,  the  country  was 
completely  devastated  by  the  retreating  Russian 

Devastation  of  armv  am-\  ^jie  oncoming  Germans.  A  million 
people  were  driven  from  their  homes.  Half  of 
them  perished  by  the  roadside.  For  miles  and  miles,  when  I 
saw  the  country,  the  way  was  littered  with  mudsoaked  garments 
and  bones  picked  clean  by  the  crows — though  the  larger  bones 
had  been  gathered  by  the  thrifty  Germans  to  be  ground  into 
fertilizer.  Wicker  baskets — the  little  basket  in  which  the  baby 
swings  from  the  rafters  in  every  peasant  home--were  scattered 
along  the  way.  hundreds  and  hundreds,  until  one  could  not 
count  them,  each  one  telling  a  death. 

Warsaw,  which  had  not  been  destroyed — once  a  proud  city 
of  a  million  people — was  utterly  stricken.  Poor  folks  by  thou- 
sands lined  the  streeH,  leaning  against  the  buildings,  shivering  in 


GERMAN    WAR    PRACTICES.  87 

snow  and  rain,  too  weak  to  lift  a  hand,  dying  of  cold  and  hunger. 
Though  the  rich  gave  all  they  had,  and  the  poor  shared  their  last 
crust,  they  were  starving  there  in  the  streets  in  droves. 

In  the  stricken  city,  the  German  governor  of  Warsaw  issued  a 
proclamation.  All  able-bodied  Poles  were  bidden  to  goto  Ger- 
many to  work.  If  any  refused,  let  no  other  Pole  give  him  to  eat, 
not  so  much  as  a  mouthful,  under  penalty  of  German  military  law. 

It  was  more  than  the  mind  could  grasp.  To  the  husband  and 
father  of  broken  families,  the  high  command 

The  policy  of    gave  this  decree:    Leave  your  families  to  starve; 

if  you  stay,  we  shall  see  that  you  do  starve — 

this  to  a  high-strung,  sensitive,  highly  organized  people,  this  from 

the  authorities  of  a  nation  professing  civilization  and  religion  to 

millions  of  fellow  Christians  captive  and  starving. 

General  von  Kries,  the  governor,  was  kind  enough  to  explain. 

Country  to  be  Candidly,  they  preferred  not  quite  so  much 
restocked  with  starvation;  it  might  get  on  the  nerves  of  the 
Germans.  German  soldiers.  But,  starvation  being  present, 

it  must  work  for  German  purpose.  Taking  advantage  of  this 
wretchedness,  the  working  men  of  Poland  were  to  be  removed; 
the  country  was  to  be  restocked  with  Germans.  It  was  country 
Germany  needed — rich  alluvial  soil — better  suited  to  German 
expansion  than  distant  possessions.  If  the  POLAND  that  was 
had  to  perish,  so  much  the  better  for  Germany. 

Remove  the  men,  let  the  young  and  weak  die,  graft  German 
stock  on  the  women.  See  how  simple  it  is:  with  a  crafty  smile, 
General  von  Kries  concluded,  "By  and  by  we  must  give  back 
freedom  to  Poland.  Very  good;  it  will  reappear  as  a  German 
province." 

Slowly,  I  came  to  realize  that  this  monstrous,  incredible  thing 
was  the  PRUSSIAN  SYSTEM,  deliberately  chosen  by  the  circle 
around  the  all-highest,  and  kneaded  into  the  German  people  till 
it  became  part  of  their  mind. 

German  people  are  material  for  building  the  State — of  no 
other  account.  Other  people  are  for  Germany's  will  to  work 
upon.  Humanity,  liberty,  equality,  the  rights  of  others — all 
foolish  talk.  Democracy,  an  idle  dream.  The  true  Prussian 
lives  only  for  this,  that  the  German  State  may  be  mighty  and 
great. 

All  the  woes  in  the  long  count  against  Germany  are  part  of  the 

Prussian    system.     The    invasion    of    Belgium, 

of  GerfriahtfuhieIs  tne  deportations ,  the  starving  of  subject  people, 

every wh^re.U       S  the  Armenian  massacres,  atrocities,  frightfulness, 

sinking   the   Lusitania,  the  submarine   horrors, 

the  enslavement  of  women — all  piece  into  the   monstrous  view. 

The  rights  of  nations,  the  rights  of  men,  the  lives  and  liberties 

of  all  people  are  subordinate  to  the  German  aim  of  dominion,  over 

all  the  world.  FREDERICK  C.  WALCOTT. 


CONCLUSION. 

STATEMENT  OF  MR.  VERNON  KELLOGG,  SEPTEMBER,  1917. 
(Prepared  for  this  pamphlet.) 

It  was  my  privilege — and  necessity — in  connection  with  the 
work  of  the  Commission  for  Relief  in  Belgium  to  spend  several 
months  at  the  Great  Headquarters  of  the  German  armies  in  the 
west,  and  later  to  spend  more  months  at  Brussels  as  the  Commis- 
sion's director  for  Belgium  and  occupied  France.  It  was  an 
enforced  opportunity  to  see  something  of  German  practice  in 
the  treatment  of  a  conquered  people,  part  of  whom  (the  French 
and  the  inhabitants  of  the  Belgian  provinces  of  East  and  West 
Flanders)  were  under  the  direct  control  of  the  German  General 
Staff  and  the  several  German  armies  of  the  west,  and  part,  the 
inhabitants  of  the  seven  other  Belgian  provinces,  under  the 
quasi-civil  government  of  Governor  General  von  Bissing.  I  did 
not  enter  the  occupied  territories  until  June,  1915,  and  so,  of 
course,  saw  none  of  the  actual  invasion  and  overrunning  of  the 
land.  I  saw  only  the  graves  of  the  massacred 

The  graves  of  ancj  ^he  rums  of  their  towns.  But  I  saw  through 
the  long,  hard  months  much  too  much  for  my 
peace  of  mind  of  how  the  Germans  treated  the  unfortunates 
under  their  control  after  the  occupation. 

It  would  be  an  unnecessary  repetition  to  describe  again  the 
scenes  in  Louvain,  Dinant,  Vise,  Andenne,  Tamines,  Aerschot, 
and  the  rest  of  the  familiar  long  list  of  the  ruined  Belgian  towns. 
But  too  little  has  been  said  of  the  many,  many  ruined  villages 
all  over  the  extent  of  the  occupied  French  territory  from  Lille 
in  the  north  to  Longwy  in  the  south,  and  from  the  eastern 
boundary  of  France  to  the  fatal  trench  lines  of  the  extreme 
western  front. 

As  chief  representative  for  the  Commission,  it  was  my  duty 
to  cover  this  whole  territory  repeatedly  in  long  motor  journeys 
in  company  with  the  German  officer  assigned  for  my  protection — 
and  for  the  protection  of  the  German  army  against  any  too  much 
seeing.  As  I  had  opportunity  also  to  cover  most  of  Belgium  in 
repeated  trips  from  Brussels  into  the  vaiious  provinces,  I  neces- 
sarily had  opportunity  to  compare  the  destruction  wrought  in 
the  two  regions. 

I  could  understand  why  certain  towns  and  villages  along  the 
Meuse  and  along  the  lines  of  the  French  and  English  retreat  were 
badly  shot  to  pieces.  There  had  been  fighting  in  these  towns 

88 


GERMAN    WAR    PRACTICES.  89 

and  the  artillery  of  first  one  side  and  then  the  other  had  worked 
their  havoc  among  the  houses  of  the  inhabitants, 
b  Un~    ^u*  there  were  many  towns  in  which  there  had 
buruinedf  been  no  fighting  and  yet  all  too  many  of  these 

towns  also  were  in  ruins.  It  was  not  ruin  by 
shells,  but  ruin  by  fire  and  explosions.  There  were  the  famous 
"punished"  towns.  Either  a  citizen  or  perhaps  two  or  three 
citizens  had  fired  from  a  window  on  the  invaders — or  were  alleged 
to  have.  Thereupon  a  block,  or  two  or  three  blocks,  or  half  the 
town  was  methodically  and  effectively  burned  or  blown  to 
pieces.  There  are  many  of  these  "punished"  towns  in  occupied 
France.  And  between  these  towns  and  along  the  roadways  are 
innumerable  isolated  single  farm  houses  that  are  also  in  ruins. 
It  is  not  claimed  that  there  was  any  sniping  from  these  farm- 
houses. They  were  just  destroyed  along  the  way — and  by  the 
way,  one  may  say.  When  the  roll  of  destroyed  villages  and 
destroyed  farmhouses  in  occupied  France  is  made  known,  the 
world  will  be  shocked  again  by  this  evidence  of  German  thorough- 
ness. 

The  rigor  of  the  control  over  the  Inhabitants  of  the  occupied 
French  territory  is  almost  inconceivable.  The  lines  delimiting 

the  regions  occupied   by  the    various    distinct 

Heartlessness    German  armies  are  lines  of  impassable  steel  for 

of  German  rule,     the  inhabitants.     If  a  member  of  the  family 

in  one  town  was  visiting  friends  or  relatives  in 
another  town  a  few  kilometers  away  at  the  time  of  the  outbreak 
of  the  war  that  family  has  remained  separated  through  all  the 
long  months  that  have  since  elapsed.  No  messages  can  pass 
except  by  dangerous  subterranean  ways  from  town  to  town . 

The  requisitioning  of  everything  from  food  to  furniture,  from 
farm  animals  to  the  blankets  and  mattresses  from  the  beds, 
has  been  carried  to  such  an  extent  that  the  people  live  on  nothing, 
amid  nothing.  These  requisitions  in  the  earlier  days  had  a  more 
or  less  official  seeming  in  that  quartermaster's  bons  were  given 
for  the  things  taken.  Even  then  the  German  sense  of  humor 
too  often  made  the  bon  a  crude  jest.  The  bons 
were  wr^ten  m  tne  German  language  in  German 
property.  script,  illegible  and  beyond  the  understanding 

of  the  simple  natives.  A  bon  might  be  given  for 
a  chicken  when  it  was  a  pair  of  horses  that  was  taken.  But 
later,  when  these  jests  palled  on  the  German  soldiers,  the  requisi- 
tioning was  simplified  by  the  omission  of  ton-giving.  Where 
the  villagers  and  peasants  had  tried  to  save  something  that  could 
be  buried  or  concealed,  the  searching  out  of  these  pitiful  hiding 
places  became  a  great  game  with  the  German  soldiers.  One 
ingenious  Frenchman  had  secreted  a  few  choice  bottles  of  wine 
in  a  famous  tomb  on  heights  above  the  Mouse.  But  these 


!M)  UJ4KMAN     WAK    PKAOT1CES. 

bottles  found  their  way  to  special  tables  at  the  Great  Head- 
quarters. 

In  the  spring  of  1916  the  army  authorities  devised  the  plan  of 
deporting  a  number  of  men  and  women  from  Lille  and  the  indus- 
trial towns  near  it  to  the  agricultural  regions  further  south. 
These  French  were  to  work  in  the  fields  and  help  produce  food 
for  the  German  army.  As  a  matter  of  fact  this  plan  had  at 
bottom  something  to  recommend  it.  The  congestion  in  the 
industrialized  northern  region  made  the  food  problem  there 
very  difficult.  Our  Commission  had  more  trials  in  connection 
with  the  provisioning  of  the  great  city  of  Lille  and  the  lesser 
but  crowded  towns  of  Valenciennes,  Roubaix,  and  Tourcoing 
than  with  all  the  rest  of  the  occupied  territory.  Also  the^e 
people  had  no  work  to  do,  as  the  great  factories  were  still.  To 
come  south  and  work  in  the  open  air  in  the  fields  and  be  allowed 
a  fair  ration  would  have  been  a  real  advantage  to  these  people. 
H  would  also  have  helped  in  the  whole  food  supply  situation. 

But  the  horrible  methods  of  that  deportation  were  such  that 
we,  although  trying  to  hold  steadfast  to  a  rigorous  neutrality, 
could  not  but  protest.  Mr.  Gerard,  our  Ambassador  to  Berlin, 
happened  at  the  very  time  of  this  protest  to  make  a  visit  to  the 
Great  Headquarters  in  the  west  and  the  matter  was  brought  to 
the  attention  of  certain  high  officers  at  Headquarters  on  the  very 
day  of  Mr.  Gerard's  visit  and  in  his  hearing.  So  that  he  added 
his  own  protest  to  that  of  Mr.  Poland,  our  director  at  the 
time,  and  further  deportations  were  stopped.  But  a  terrible 

mischief    had    already    been    done.     Husbands 
Horrors  of  de-    anc|  fathers  had  been  taken  from  their  families 

without  a  word  of  good-bye;  sons  and  daughters 
on  whom  perhaps  aged  parents  relied  for  support  were  taken 
without  pity  or  apparent  thought  of  the  terrible  consequences. 
The  great  deportations  of  Belgium  have  shocked  the  world.  But 
these  lesser  deportations — that  is,  lesser  in  extent,  but  not  less 
brutal  in  their  carrying  out — are  hardly  known. 

I  went  into  Belgium  and  occupied  France  a  neutral  and  I 

maintained   while   there   a   steadfastly   neutral 

N?    American    behavior.     But  I  came  out  no  neutral.     I  can 
can  fail  to  oppose  .,  .  • 

Prussianism.  no*  conceive  that  any  American  enjoying  an 
experience  similar  to  mine  could  have  come  out 
a  neutral.  He  would  come  out,  as  I  came,  with* the  ineradicable 
conviction  that  a  people  or  a  government  which  can  do  what  the 
Germans  did  and  are  doing  in  Belgium  and  France  to-day*  must 
not  be  allowed,  if  there  is  power  on  earth  to  prevent  it,  to  do 
this  a  moment  longer  than  can  be  helped.  And  they  must  not 
be  allowed  ever  to  do  it  again. 


GERMAN    WAR    PRACTICES.  91 

I  went  in  also  a  hater  of  war,  and  I  came  out  a  more  ardent 
hater  of  war.  But,  also,  I  came  out  with  the 
meradicable  conviction,  again,  that  the  only 
system.  wav  in  which  Germany  under  its  present  rule 
and  in  its  present  state  of  mind  can  be  kept  from 
doing  what  it  had  done  is  by  force  of  arms.  It  can  not  be 
prevented  by  appeal,  concession,  or  treaties.  Hence,  ardently 
as  I  hope  that  all  war  may  cease,  I  hope  that  this  war  may  not 
cease  until  Germany  realizes  that  the  civilized  world  simply  will 
not  allow  such  horrors  as  those  for  which  Germany  is  responsible 
in  Belgium  and  France  to  be  any  longer  possible. 

VERNON  KELLOGG. 


Your  Government  Is  Willing  to  Send  You 

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Any  Two  of  the  Pamphlets  Listed  Here 
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Committee  on  Public  Information. 

(Established  by  Order  of  the  President,  April  14,  1917,  Washington,  B.C.) 

Series  No.  1.     War  Information.     (Red,  White  and  Blue  Covers.) 

Catalogue  No. 

\.    How  the  War  Came  to  America. 

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tion, developments  of  our  policy  reviewed  and  explained  from  August,  1914,  to 
April,  1917;  Appendix:  the  President's  address  to  the  Senate  January  22,  1917, 
his  war  message  to  Congress  April  2,  1917,  his  Flag  Day  address  at  Washington, 
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Contents:     Description  of  all  civic  and  military  organizations  directly  or 
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dividual can  help.     Maps,  Army  and  Navy  Insignia,  diagrams.     246  Pages. 

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Contents:  The  best  collection  of  patriotic  prose  and  poetry.  Authors  and 
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THESE  NOTES  PRESENT  AN  OVERWHELMING  ARSENAL  OF  FACTS, 
all  gathered  from  original  sources.  32  Pages. 

5.  Conquest  and  Kultur. 

Contents:  A  brio*"  '  roduction  outlining  German  war  aims  and  showing  how 
the  proofs  wo  1:  followed  by  quotations /rom  German  writers  revealing 

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